Lightning Never Strikes Twice
by MufuMufuSan
Summary: Fearing her to be a squib and being unhappy in the future, James and Lily give her up to an unhappy Sirius after Voldemort's attack. This turn of events lead her to becoming Tsuna's first friend, and future Lightning Guardian. fem!Harry, Lightning Guardian!Harry. MAJOR AU; wrong twin-who-lived.
1. Prologue

**Lightning Never Strikes Twice**

 _Prologue_

 _This chapter isn't edited in any way, shape, or form._

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own KHR, HP, or any of its wonderful characters.

 **Warnings:** Some dark tones. Rushed writing. Fem!Harry Potter. Future Lightning Guardian!Harry Potter. Brief OC mention, don't worry about it; Yamamoto Takeshi's mother isn't shown in canon, so I can only infer that she is #ded. MAJOR AU: wrong-twin-who-lived. Also, there's a reason why I don't write children often, ;a; Luckily, it's just this one chapter, haha.

 **A/N:** I wanted to do a character study for Yamamoto Takeshi, so that's where the small except involving him came from. It deals with a slight head canon of mine- or small wish that Yamamoto Takeshi is more than he seems, haha. It deals with slight degrees of the antisocial personality, psychopathy. I've also been reading some fem!Harry stories, and wanted to try my hand at doing it again. I would write fem!Harry more, but I feel as if I can never do that enough justice, lolol.

Basically saying, this fic is a result of two indulgent desires merged into one.

o(´д｀o)

Also, as many of you can probably tell from the title- Harry will have Lightning Flames! Sorry if this isn't your cup of tea, haha. Other than that, I don't think I have much else to say other than:

Enjoy!

 **[Edited** **:** I rewrote Tsuna's POV to appear more childlike? I guess? lololololol Children are my weakness. Thanks for pointing it out!]

* * *

 _Even a white lily can cast a black shadow._

-Hungarian proverb

* * *

"You can't be serious," Sirius Black growled, defensive and in disbelief. Lily and James share a look, a very uncomfortable look. "You can't be, can you?"

"You're Sirius," James tried to joke with a weak smile. "And sadly, we are as well. Serious, I mean."

"That's bullshit!" Sirius gestured, angrily. "This is your child! She may not be the boy-who-lived, but she's still your child!" The child in question gurgled, sleepy fingers clutching tightly at Sirius's leather jacket. Hyacinth Lily Potter blinked up at him, and Sirius tried to reign in his stormy temper.

"She's not the boy-who-lived, exactly!" James retorted, grimacing the words. "You're acting like we're happy about this, and we're not. It's- it's for the best, anyways," he admitted, suddenly looking very sick. Lily takes over, placing a gentle hand on James's arm.

"She'll be in a lot of danger if she lives with us," Lily continued, expression sad and plain. "Dumbledore said it will be for the best, Sirius. He said-"

"Who cares what he says? You two are her _parents_ ," Sirius seethed. "What is she going to think when she grows up? Her parents abandoned her? All because some old man says so? You abandoned her, and kept her _twin brother_?"

The amount of bitterness and salt in those words left Sirius reeling. He remembers his own parents very well, and how relieved he was when he finally ran away. That was of his own accord, unable to handle the hateful racism and pressure of being heir to the Black Family. Not that it mattered much, Regulus was the more favored child anyways, he was sure. Awful parenting was one of the most horrible things someone can commit, Sirius thinks. That's also partially the reason why he decided to never have kids of his own, unable to bear the thought of being anything less than perfect to them.

And Sirius wasn't a perfect person.

So that solved that part of his life.

"She'll grow up unhappy," James snapped. "She'll grow up targeted and in the shadow of her twin brother! I don't- I don't want her to live like that. You have to understand, Padfoot, please-"

"Don't 'Padfoot' me, _Prongs_ ," Sirius retorted, angrily. "I'm not in the mood for our past bullshit. You two are her parents, she wouldn't be unhappy if you guys just _love_ her."

"She's a squib!" James stressed. "It would be better for her psyche if she isn't surrounded by magic, and her brother. Jealousy is horrible. Just look at Lily's sister! She's horrible."

Lily blinked, a bit affronted; she nodded anyways.

"A squib?" Sirius stated, bland. Hyacinth cooed at him. "How in Merlin's pants do you two know that? Wait, lemme guess, Dumbledore said it?" His respect for him was slowly dropping during this conversation. "You guys are unbelievable."

"Please, Sirius," James insisted. "You don't have to understand, but you have to accept. You have to." Sirius stared James down, and saw the stubbornness in his eyes. He really believes this is the only way- Sirius chanced a look at a depressed looking Lily, and inwardly blanched. Both of them really believe this, both of them believe Dumbledore.

It was a bit sad to see.

"Fine," Sirius hedged, cold and distant. He tugged Hyacinth closer to his body, protectively. "But you two are giving up your chance to _ever_ see her, got it? No visits, nothing. You guys are throwing away that chance, and you'll _never_ regain it back. Just like my respect for you both," he sneered, and James winced.

Lily swallowed. "It's for the best," she murmured, brokenly.

"For the best," Sirius was starting to hate that term. He has always adored Dumbledore, but now he was starting to think a bit differently. _Light, Dark,_ it's all the same- Sirius has always fought on the side of the Light simply because his parents were on the opposite side, but now he felt foolish and betrayed. _For the best_ , for the greater good, just how far will people go for that notion?

Sirius felt utterly distraught.

He decided right then and there that his goddaughter was going to be the only 'greater good' that he'll ever fight for again.

"Goodbye, and good life, to both of you," Sirius practically seethed, heading towards the Floo. He grabs a handful of Floo powder, and sent one last cold look towards the Potter family. James and Lily stood there, Hyacinth's twin having already being put to bed in the nursery.

With that one last look, Sirius left the Potter's temporary home.

-0-0-0-

It became quite the gossip in the Wizarding World, after that.

Sirius Black has ran away with the Potter's squib daughter. In accordance to old Family laws, it was simply brushed under the rug after a few weeks. Sirius was a stain upon nobility, a disowned Black who was Light, and the Potters were still a noble, and progressively Light, family. A squib daughter was surely shameful, and no one could partially blame them, no matter the familial changing values in the past few centuries. There were even rumors going around that the daughter had surely died in he-who-must-not-be-named's attack on the Potter home.

Even if the rumors weren't true, and Sirius truly had ran away with the Potter's surely squib daughter-

Well, an outcast running off with another outcast wasn't that unbelievable.

-0-0-0-

 **Years later**

 **Namimori, Japan**

It was a rainy day in Namimori.

A woman and her child hurried through the slick sidewalks, one barely keeping up with the other. The mother's hand was squeezing the child's hands tight, and she couldn't help but giggle a little helplessly at their situation. A simple grocery trip to the open market was ruined by a little rain- hopefully, Tsuyoshi wouldn't mind not being able to eat his favorite meal due to the lack of ingredients.

Pulling her child along, they arrived at her husband's restaurant.

When they were in the safety of the restaurant, being able to enter from the side-entrance, Yamamoto Emi giggled a little bit more. Her son looked like a drowned kitten, sulky and frowning at her.

"No need to be so serious, Take-kun," she grinned at him, helping him take off his soaked jacket. "Don't let the rain _rain_ on your parade." Emi laughed.

Yamamoto Takeshi's face scrunched up into a grimace, "That's lame," he muttered.

"I know!" Emi clapped her hands together, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of wet and damp that was now her being. She was going to have to run a hot bath for Takeshi, so he wouldn't get sick. Not that he got sick often, his immune system was _killer_.

Takeshi surveyed her, before coolly looking away.

Emi tried not to let it discourage her, as she stood up straight. She was taking off her shoes, and slipping on her slippers when her husband came into the small hallway that lead from the side entrance towards the front, and a doorway into the kitchen. There were also a set of stairs near the front. Tsuyoshi blinked, surprised, at how soaked his family was, before he laughed a warm laugh.

"I'm guessing no groceries?" He guessed, and Emi nodded, smile softening.

"I'm going to start a bath for Take-kun," she told him, moving to go towards the stairs. As she passed, she pressed her lips against Tsuyoshi's, and giggled. "Care to help him up?"

Tsuyoshi nodded, and Emi left the room. As she left, she heard Takeshi murmur something about not wanting to take a bath. Of course, Emi rolled her eyes, he took a bath _yesterday_. Pah, kids, not worrying about their health and preservation.

Guess that's why they had parents. Emi puffed herself up, as she grabbed a towel from the cupboard that was located next to the bathroom. Patting herself down, she let the towel rest around her head as she entered the bathroom to run a hot bath for her Takeshi.

Takeshi was only 5, and he was a _joy_ for both parents.

That wasn't to say, though, that he didn't have his... quirks.

Emi tried not to worry about it, but it was hard, considering her little brother was the same when he was younger. Callous, lack of empathy- prone to boredom, irresponsibility, lack of long-term realistic dreams, impulsivity. Not to say that her brother was a _bad_ person, but it was hard to... connect with him, at times.

Especially when he really couldn't connect back.

Emi didn't want her precious Take-kun be like that.

But he was only 5! Emi shouldn't be making such rash assumptions about her own son. Emi, though, knew herself well enough not to lie. Especially to herself. Takeshi had the same type of feel to him, just like her brother- or, _lack_ of feel, perhaps. Emi briefly pondered if she should call her brother to see if he could come for a visit, despite his and Tsuyoshi's dislike of each other. Maybe he could give her some tips, more insight to how her own son felt and acted.

Then, it's settled. A call it was, then! "We're here, Mom," Tsuyoshi's voice startled Emi, and she turned to see a sulky Takeshi, being held up by his father. She giggled, as she turned off the faucet and gesturing to it.

"Just in time," Emi said, and Tsuyoshi chuckled. He set Takeshi down, who shot a scandalized look at the hot bath, and at his parents. "Strip," Emi instructed, poking Takeshi's stomach.

Takeshi, if possible, looked even more insulted. "I don't want to take a bath," he protested, crossing his arms. Emi pursed her lips, squinting at Takeshi. Takeshi looked coolly back- just like her little brother, Emi sighed.

If she learned anything from growing up with her little brother, it was that he wouldn't do anything without getting something in return. If he was _forced_ to do something, violent outbursts were more likely to happen. Emi couldn't stand the thought of her Takeshi doing something like that, so she did what will most likely prevent it-

She bribed him.

"If you get into the bath," Emi said, secretly. Takeshi's eyes sharpened on her. "I'll take you to a real life baseball game again." Takeshi's eyes narrowed, thoughtful. It was such an amusing thing to see such a serious expression on a 5 year old's face.

"Fine," Takeshi hedged, and began to take off his shirt.

Tsuyoshi mouthed, 'Trickery', at her from the doorway, while also gesturing that he needed to go back downstairs. Emi grinned at him, and shooed him off, turning her attention back to Takeshi, who threw his sopping wet shirt onto the ground. Without it, Emi noticed how Takeshi was shivering, and pressed her mouth into a line.

Honestly, this boy was sometimes unbelievable.

"Takeshi," Emi said, seriously. Takeshi looked at her, in the middle of unbuttoning his pants. He raised an eyebrow at her, and Emi had to bite back a grin. Leaning forward, Emi made sure to keep her stern expression on her face. Takeshi looked a bit unsettled, looking ready to snap at her impatiently- his scowl turned into an expression of surprise, when she flicked his nose and giggled, "You should smile more, Takeshi."

Takeshi held his nose protectively, frowning at her. "I don't see the point," he said, eying her warily. He began to undress himself again, but more suspicious of her. Emi sighed. "Why do _you_ smile so much?" Takeshi asked, as he got into the bath.

"Because, it's fun!" Emi giggled, and tried not to let Takeshi know that she noticed his boneless state in the steamy bath. "And it assures people that I'm fine." Takeshi cracked open an eye, as Emi gathered up his wet clothes and put them in the hamper.

"Why would I do that?" Takeshi sounded displeased.

"Do you want people to worry about you?" Emi replied, lightly.

"I don't care what people do," Takeshi huffed. "Most of them are annoying, and everyone at school just cries or laughs at stupid things." There was a silent pause, and he continued, " _I'm_ not stupid." There was hanging _but_ there.

Emi waited, patiently.

"...But I guess I'm just different," Takeshi sighed, sending her a forlorn glance. "I'm not like other kids," he confessed, like this was some big confession and he was cautiously gauging her reaction. _Just like a_ -

Emi stared at him, before saying, "I know."

Takeshi seemed startled, before schooling his expression suspiciously, "You do?"

"Of course, silly," Emi sat on the edge of the tub, and poked his nose. Takeshi frowned. "Your uncle is the same," Emi said. "Almost like an exact replica." She winked at him, and Takeshi sat up, more interested.

"My uncle," Takeshi repeated, slowly. "He's like me? What is _me_? _What's wrong with me_?" He sounded desperate, and Emi's heart ached. Takeshi's eyes were almost wild as he stared at her, "I-"

"Shh, shh," Emi shushed him, comfortingly. Even if Takeshi was like her little brother, it didn't stop her from loving him. "Just because you're different doesn't mean you're _bad_ , Take-kun." She grinned at him. "This just means that you have a different mindset, though."

Takeshi looked frustrated, " _What_ mindset?"

Emi stared at him, hard.

"If I died right now, how would you feel?" Emi asked, seriously. Not a nice question to ask a kid, but she used to be- well, she wasn't always such a nice person. Her little brother was more suited for the mafia life than her, but that didn't stop her from being a notable hitwoman now, did it?

Takeshi jerked, staring at her with wide-eyes. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again- before snapping his jaw shut with a loud _click_. Emi smirked at him. Takeshi glanced away, frowning. "...I can't imagine such a thing," he admitted. "...Would I feel anything?" Takeshi sounded more horrified than anything.

Emi sighed, and brushed her fingers against his forehead, to bring his attention back to her. "Takeshi, don't be scared of who you are, alright?" She asked, and Takeshi made a face at her. Trailing a finger down his cheek, to his jaw, she tried to convey how much _love_ she felt for him, no matter his differing mindset and the likes. "You'll always be my little Take-kun, okay?"

Takeshi, sadly, didn't look at all believing.

Emi just hoped that one day, he'd understand.

"Don't worry too much about it, Take-kun," Emi enthused. "Your uncle is able to live a happy life. Just because you can't feel anything substantial now doesn't mean you will _never_ feel something, okay?" Takeshi glanced away.

"I don't want to be different," Takeshi admitted. "I want to be normal. I want to be like-..." He cut himself off, and slumped down into the water. _You_ , Emi finished his sentence sadly. Emi smiled, as she always did, and brushed through his damp hair.

"What are you feeling right now, Take-kun?" Emi inquired, gently.

"I don't know," Takeshi muttered, petulantly. "I thought the whole point of this conversation is that I'm not able to feel anything," he countered, with a sharp look aimed at her. Emi held her hands up, pacifying.

"You're worried," Emi soothed. "That's a feeling. You're still young, Take-kun. You can learn how to be happy, or be satisfied with your life; don't lose hope! That's what parents are for, ya' know?" She grinned, and Takeshi stared at her, dully.

"You'll teach me?" Takeshi asked, dubiously.

"Yep!" And if she couldn't do that, then her brother would still like to meet his nephew. At the very least, Takeshi would know that he's not alone. Emi winked at Takeshi's dubious expression, and he sighed, contemplatively.

Then he smiled at her, a crooked little thing, and Emi felt her heart melt.

"I'd like that," Takeshi admitted, reluctantly.

"You're smile is so adorable," Emi gushed, unable to resist. She leaned over the side of the tub and gathered him up in a damp hug, cooing into his temple. "As long as you smile, you'll be good," she enthused.

Unbeknownst to her, Takeshi took her advice to heart.

-0-0-0-

Sawada Tsunayoshi was five when he met his future best friend.

It was the summer break before his second term at school, the year before he had to go to 'big kid' school. His mom had informed him that he'd have to go to school for awhile now, and couldn't stay at the house with her all the time. To Tsuna, it felt a bit unfair that he'd have to keep going to school with all the other kids, who were mean and called him mean names. His mom would just sigh and ruffled his hair when he came home crying.

But luckily, it was summer vacation!

Tsuna could stay inside all the time, in his room, and play video games and take naps. His mom even promised to buy him manga so he could practice reading Japanese characters, and Tsuna wasn't going to complain about that; manga was better to read because it had prettier and cooler action scenes in them than the children books at school.

"Tsu-kun~" His mom cooed, throwing his door open. Tsuna jerked and fell off the side of his bed, shoving the manga he was reading underneath his bed quickly. He whirled around to see his mom's bright and airy grin, and clean pristine clothes.

Then she frowned, and Tsuna scrambled upwards, suddenly very aware of his dirty clothes and probably messy hair.

"This room was supposed to be clean at the start of break, Tsu-kun," she scolded, scanning the room with disapproval. Tsuna hunched in on himself.

"I didn't feel well," Tsuna defended himself. Which was true, it was the start of summer vacation when his father had come home with his boss. After that dangerous fall from the tree in their backyard happened, Tsuna had felt like he was slowly recovering from the flu or something, a cold and steady thrum in his bones. His mom was willing to humor him the first few weeks, but the longer it dragged out, the more she became skeptical.

Tsuna felt better now, though, so that was something!

His mom sighed, before shaking her head. Tsuna likened it to her shaking the bad thoughts out of her head, and inwardly slumped in relief. "You'll clean it later, Tsu-kun," she chirped, brighter. "Our neighbors finally settled into their house, and I want to welcome them into the neighborhood with some homemade food~"

Neighbors? Tsuna frowned, scuffing at his wooden floor with his foot.

Tsuna didn't know anything about their apparently new neighbors. Which wasn't saying a lot considering he hardly ever left his room. Maybe they moved in? Oh! Maybe it was the house with that scary dog, maybe they moved and new people already moved in? Tsuna perked up.

"So, get ready, Tsu-kun, I'll meet you downstairs," his mom giggled, airy. Tsuna smiled at her, brightly, and scrambled around his room.

Tsuna changed clothes, and tried to smooth down his wild hair. It didn't work, and he frowned upwards at it, willing it to smooth down for him. It didn't. He sighed, and made do with it, almost stumbling down the stairs with how fast he went down them. His mom was waiting in the front entrance, shoes already on.

Feeling oddly proud, Tsuna sat down at the front entrance and began to put his shoes on. Ever since he learned how to tie his shoelaces, he liked making his mom watched. "Such a good boy, Tsu-kun," his mother praised, and Tsuna beamed.

"Thanks, mom," Tsuna grinned.

For once, he didn't feel useless at something!

In fact, he was even put in charge of carrying the casserole dish to the neighbors. Sadly, it wasn't the neighbors with the mean dog, but on their other side. Tsuna took careful footsteps, mindful of his own spells of clumslyness at this point. That, too, had also started at the beginning of this summer vacation, and his mom and papa said that he was just 'growing into his body', whatever that meant.

Tsuna briefly wondered what his mom cooked for the new neighbors. It smelt good.

Their neighbor's house looked a lot like their own, Tsuna noticed. The colors were slightly different, and the garden didn't look for as cared of. When the door opened, a tired looking man squinted at them, almost suspiciously. Tsuna almost blanched at how tired and scary the older man looked, and pressed himself into his mom's legs, wide-eyed.

The man opened the door wider, and he stood up straighter, his previous distant expression falling. A warm smile was in it's place. It fit his face, and his dark hair was longer than what Tsuna was normal to seeing on boys and mean. It rested near his neck, pulled back in a low pony tail, like- like a girl. His mom, though, didn't seem to find anything wrong with the man, and giggled out a greeting.

"Hello! Sorry if we are interrupting, but my son and I wanted to welcome you into the neighborhood," his mom's voice was light and airy. "My name is Sawada Nana, and this is my son, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Watching his mom, Tsuna followed her lead and bowed slightly, casserole dish gripped tightly by his sweaty hands.

"Oh, hi," the man blinked. "We weren't expecting visitors, er. My name is Black Sirius," his Japanese was weird, Tsuna noticed. He pressed himself tighter to his mom's legs, staring uneasily up at the strange man. "It's nice to meet both of you," there was something real in his smile, though, warm.

"Oh, it's quite alright," his mom assured him. "I just hope we weren't interrupting something." A pause, and she tilted her head curiously to one side, curiously. "Do you have any kids, Black-san?" The way she said his name was also weird, and Tsuna couldn't remember learning anything like in school.

Black? Tsuna couldn't possibly imagine saying that right!

"Kids?" Black mused, with an easy-going grin. "That, I do. She's a sweetheart," his eyes were drawn to Tsuna, who had to fight the urge to drop the casserole dish and run back to his house. "I think she's around little Sawada-kun's age here, I think," Black grinned.

His mom grew excited then, and Tsuna had a sinking feeling.

Uh-oh, he thought frantically. His mom used for force him to go out and socialize with other kids from school, and that usually ended badly. Tsuna had held onto the hope that this summer would be different, and that he wouldn't see any of his classmates until the next term started! And the thought of meeting a new kid left his stomach in knots, and he wanted to cry, almost.

"Oh, if it's not too much trouble," his mother giggled, a glint in her eyes. Her need for Tsuna to have friends was almost scary. Tsuna didn't have the courage to tell her that he was pretty sure that he'd forever be friendless. "But I'm sure my son would love to show your daughter around. Isn't that right, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna wanted to scream. Instead, he nodded. "Y-yeah, mom," he sealed his fate.

Black laughed at the display. "Then I'm sure my daughter would love to be shown around," he grinned. He turned back towards the house, and yelled inside. "Oi, I know you're snooping around back there. Come on out and meet our neighbors!" His voice was loud, and Tsuna almost jerked at the sound.

His mom just laughed.

A girl around Tsuna's age appeared, blinking almost striking green eyes at them. Her hair was a wild mess of dark curls, and jammed onto her head was some type of goggles. She was very pretty. Like, very pretty, and Tsuna knew that this day was going to end horrible just by that. She was too pretty for someone like him to even be around!

"Yo," she greeted. "Who are you?"

Black cuffed the back of her head, gently, while he rolled his eyes. "Manners, Hya. This is my daugher, Black Hyacinth. You can call her Hya if the name is too long for you," Black declared, and Tsuna twitched. Both of those names sounded weird and foreign! He doubted he could say any of them!

"H-hi," Tsuna managed, with a slight prompt from his mother. "M-my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi- you can just call me Tsuna, though," he added, shyly.

"Tsuna, Tsuna," Hyacinth seemed to be testing out his name. He flushed terribly. "It's kind of like that fish, Tuna-" Black slapped a hand over her mouth, giving her a warning smiling.

"It's a great name," Black finished for her. His mother laughed and Tsuna wanted to curl up in his room and sleep forever from embarrassment. "Look, this young man wants to show you around the neighborhood to help you settle in. Is that cool with you?"

What a casual way of speaking, Tsuna couldn't help but think in awe.

"It's cool with me if it's cool with you," Hyacinth grinned. Tsuna noticed she had a bright smile, and one of her teeth were missing. She turned towards him, sizing him up. "What's that in your hands?" Tsuna almost forgotten about the casserole dish he was holding at this point.

"Just some food to help you settle in," his mom thankfully answered for him. Tsuna felt like he couldn't talk with how heavy and thick his tongue felt at the moment. His mom took the dish from him, and handed it to Black, who blinked slightly at it. "Remember, the Sawada home is just next door; if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate!"

Black laughed, bewildered. Hyacinth shrugged at Tsuna's helpless expression. "Will do." He waved his mom off, leaving Tsuna standing awkwardly in front of the two new neighbors. Black turned towards his daughter. "Okay, you got your phone, and I put both my number and the emergency service numbers on speed dial. Come home before dark. Don't talk to strangers," he ordered, and Hyacinth seemed to roll her eyes.

"I get it, Siri, I get it," Hyacinth huffed. She pouted. "I can handle it." Tsuna twitched, suddenly realizing that her father was telling her safety procedures, like they did at school. He can't ever remember his papa or mom giving them to him, now that he thought about it. "Let's go, Tsuna," Hyacinth ordered, giving a curt salute to her father.

Black grinned and retreated back into the house, casserole dish in hand.

"Sorry about him, he can be a bit overprotective," Hyacinth chirped, practically skipping beside Tsuna. It was a hot day out, and sweat was starting to drip down Tsuna's neck. Tsuna swallowed.

"It's fine," Tsuna managed. Make a friend, make a friend, don't mess this up, repeated in his head. His mother's disappointed gaze haunted him. Hyacinth didn't seem to notice his nervousness, and red face; she was almost energetic, with how she glanced around curiously. She never seemed to stop moving somehow.

"So, where are we going?" Hyacinth asked, curiously, after they've been wandering around aimlessly.

"Er, I don't know," Tsuna answered. He thought about it. The park in the neighborhood was safe, but a lot of older kids played there as well. Older mean kids, and Tsuna didn't really want to go there. But he was showing Hyacinth around- maybe they won't be there. Or maybe they'd leave him alone if they saw he was with someone.

Dream a small dream.

"How about the park?" Tsuna said, around the dread. Hyacinth perked up and nodded. At least she seemed to enjoy the idea, Tsuna inwardly cried. With slow, almost heavy, footsteps, they started walking to the park. Hyacinth was humming underneath her breath, not minding the awkward silence that had fell over them.

"Is this park neat?" Hyacinth asked.

"I think?" Tsuna wouldn't exactly call the park neat. "I, er, like the sandpit." Because no one ever bothered him there, and no one ever played there. Though on a hot day like this, he doubted that would be very fun. The sand would be burning hot.

"Oh, cool!" Hyacinth chirped. "I like playing on the swings. I don't go to the park often, though. But Siri says I get a lot more freedom here, he promised," she grinned, a bit roguish. She acted very differently than what Tsuna expected. "He said this is a safe town, too."

What did they call this? Tomboy?

"This is a safe town," Tsuna repeated. "My mom let's me walk to school by myself," even though he had absolutely balked at being forced to do it the first few times. He inwardly shuddered, resisting the urge to cry; he was a big boy now, and big boy's don't cry.

"Oh, cool! I want to do things by myself!" Hyacinth enthused. "I wanna fight everybody," she confided and Tsuna sputtered. They arrived at the park, though Hyacinth didn't seem to notice. She was facing him with that huge grin on her face, rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Fight? That's scary," Tsuna said, anxiously.

"No, it's cool! I won't fight anyone that isn't willing to fight," Hyacinth defended herself. "I just wanna get into trouble," and Tsuna winced. What type of kid wanted to get in trouble!? Hyacinth was weird.

"That's even worse," Tsuna whined.

"It sounds fun," Hyacinth grinned.

Before Tsuna could even think of what to say to that, a couple of boy's ambled over. Tsuna glanced over and almost squeaked in fear, taking a few steps back out of reflex. Dazai and his group were there, in front of them, smirking at him; Tsuna grabbed Hyacinth's wrists, and yanked her back too, making her yelp as she stumbled.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little crybaby?" Dazai laughed, and Tsuna felt his ears burn in shame. "We should start calling you dame, huh?" Dame was a bad nickname, Tsuna found out. He was hoping the other kids would have forgotten over the course of the summer.

Hyacinth glanced between Dazai and Tsuna, frowning.

"Who's this?" Dazai finally noticed her. "Your little girlfriend?"

Tsuna let out a wounded noise. "You're so mean all the time," he whined. "Don't bring Hya-chan into this," insult Tsuna all you want, he was somewhat used to it. But he would feel bad if Hyacinth's feelings were somehow hurt because of him.

"Hya-chan?" Dazai raised an eyebrow.

Hyacinth stepped forward, raising an eyebrow. She folded her arms. "You can call me that," Hyacinth stated. "Or you can call me your biggest nightmare. Either one," she grinned at them, and Tsuna wanted to wince at her bluntness.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dazai frowned, looking a bit insulted.

"It means," Hyacinth spared him a slight glance, before returning her steely gaze back onto Tsuna's bullies. "That you need to get lost before you regret it,"she finished, jutting her chin up. Tsuna balked; was she threatening them!?

Dazai seemed surprised, too. "What the hell, gaki?" He laughed. "You think you can do that to me? I'm bigger than you," he said back. "And what's the point? Defending Tsuna's little maidenly honor? What a laugh," he laughed, prompting his few friends to laugh to.

Tsuna wilted. "Hya-chan, let's just go," he whispered at her, ashamed. "It's not worth it," I'm not worth it. Hyacinth brushed off his hand.

"I'm defending him because he's my friend," Hyacinth scowled at Dazai and his friends, making them stop short. Heck, even Tsuna stopped short at the word.

Friend.

She considered them friends already?

"Friends with a loser like him?" Dazai seemed surprised too.

"The only losers I see here are you guys," Hyacinth responded. "Now, I'll say it again: get lost before I make you get lost," she huffed, arms still folded. Tsuna was in awe at how courageous she seemed. If it was Tsuna, he would have already been crying by now.

"Listen here, gaki," Dazai didn't seem to like her standing up against him. "I'm not one for hitting girls, but-"

"But what?" Hyacinth challenged, grinning. Her eyes glinted dangerously in the sun. "You're acting like I'm scared," she taunted. Tsuna felt the need to make sure she didn't get hurt, not liking the way this whole conversation was heading. South, as one might say.

"Hyacinth, just leave," Tsuna pleaded. "I'll be fine, please?"

Hyacinth spared him a glance. "Anyways," she addressed Dazai, leaving Tsuna sputter. Did she just dismiss him? Did she not care that she could get hurt!? Tsuna wanted to yell in frustration, eyes wide and starting to brim with tears. "I'll kick the ass of anyone who wants to pick a fight with me, or my friend," she declared, loudly. Hyacinth grinned, smug and bright, so confident that it left Tsuna reeling. "Now, bring it."

Tsuna learned two things that day:

Hyacinth Lily Black was a goddess in disguise, underneath all that hyperness and impulsivity.

And to never piss her off.

It was a start to a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Review, favorite, follow, or whatever you do on stories that you read.

I will make Yamamoto Takeshi/Harry Potter a thing, so help me god.

Even if it means writing it myself, orz.

(Also, Hyacinth isn't a squib! Magic will come...later...

or WILL IT? Dun dun dunnnn...)

-mms


	2. Chapter 1

**Lightning Never Strikes Twice**

 _Chapter One_

 _This chapter isn't edited in any way, shape, or form. If you see a mistake, please point it out; it'd be greatly appreciated!_

 **Warnings:** Rushed writing.

 **A/N:** I'm trying to characterize those with Lightning Flames as very ambitious, and always having something to prove. I am also trying to characterize that some of them are very hyper and impulsive as children, and that should wear off the older they grow. So if it seems like I'm writing Hyacinth a bit one-dimensional here, it's because I am. And you know why I'm doing that?

Character growth.

 _Wow, what a concept!_

I'm just being salty over someone reviewing something on my other Lightning Guardian!Harry story, sorry, haha. Orz Anyways, this chapter is coming out very quickly, compared to my other works, who are patiently waiting to be slowly updated.

Enjoy!

 **[Edit:** Hyacinth and everyone is older in this chapter! D: Secondary school is the equivalent of Middle School- which is exactly what I call it during this chapter, haha. So they're both around 13 around this chapter. **]**

* * *

 _Both my best and my worst habit is that I'm very impulsive_

\- Tove Lo

* * *

It was the break before their first year at secondary school.

Tsuna was content with staying inside his house all day, playing video games and reading manga. Hyacinth, however, was not. It was rather common for her to become bored easily, so it wasn't all that unnatural. It should have figured that sooner or later, she'd show up at Tsuna's door with that huge grin on her face.

Her tomboyish personality translated well in her clothing style. A worn leather jacket, and a pair of biker's goggles perched on her head- her clothes underneath was surprisingly plain, jean shorts and dark shirt. Her shoes were combat boots. Tsuna, on the other hand, preferred plain and comfortable clothing. Hyacinth could argue that her clothes were comfortable, but she mostly dressed this way for one thing, and one thing only;

To feel cool.

And cool she was, in her own troublemaking way. Hyacinth often pulled pranks and committed small 'crimes', often dragging an unwilling Tsuna along with her. Which was what she was planning on doing today!

Hyacinth knocked loudly on the door, waiting for Tsuna to open the door. He usually opened the door, especially if it was her; while she could have just went on in, she didn't want to take off her shoes just to drag Tsuna out of his bedroom. Her knocking was hard and erratic, so anyone in there should be able to recognize her, as often as she came over.

Lo and behold, Tsuna opened the door to blink blearily at her. Probably unused to natural light, she thought amusedly.

"We're going to commit some crimes today, Tsu-kun," Hyacinth chirped, gesturing to her bat and the bag she was carrying. Tsuna was apparently used to her version of crimes, and sighed, nodding. She grinned. "We're going to be playing baseball with these light bulbs."

"That's dangerous," Tsuna complained, but retreated back into his house's entrance. He sat down heavily on the step leading further into his house, and began to put on his shoes. "What if Hibari-san finds us?"

"Then we'll beat him up," Hyacinth returned, patiently. She tapped her foot.

"I think you mean _you'll_ beat him up," Tsuna muttered.

"You're my cheerleader," Hyacinth enthused. Tsuna shot her a bland look, and Hyacinth laughed. "No, but seriously. Hurry, we're burning daylight," she ordered, gesturing behind her at the slowly setting sun.

"It's _break_ ," Tsuna stressed. "We're supposed to be getting ready for secondary school."

"By what? Reading manga and eating in?" Hyacinth challenged with a grin. Tsuna blanched. "At least this way, you get to see some sunlight and you get to socialize with the best person there is. That's me, by the way, in case you're forgetting."

"How can I forget?" Tsuna muttered. He sighed. "Mom, I'm going out with Hyacinth. I'll be back later."

Sawada Nana poked her head out, waving enthusiastically at Hyacinth. Hyacinth waved back. "Oh, have fun, sweetie," she said. "I'll be here." She disappeared back into the kitchen, which was where she almost always was.

As they were walking towards the town's center, where there were a lot of alleys where they could indulge in their shared 'crimes', Tsuna ventured to ask. "So, did you finally get your acceptance letter back?"

"From where? Namimori Middle? Yeah, I did," Hyacinth shrugged. Tsuna looked at her desperately, making her raise an eyebrow. "What, still mad about that? Look, I'm following you into Namimori Middle because we're _friends_. I don't want to go to that pretentious girl school, yuck," she made a face.

"But you're really smart," Tsuna protested. "I'm sure you'll find other friends there."

"Friends who help me commit crimes?" Hyacinth challenged. "No way, dude. We've been friends since, like, forever. I need you to help me be the best I can be, and you need me to help beat those bullies off ya." Tsuna's visage soured.

"You don't have to do it," he muttered.

"I want to do it," Hyacinth corrected. "It's their fault, anyways. You think spending years of beating them to hell and back that they'd get the tip, don't ya think?" Tsuna sighed, and nodded. "Don't act so down, Tsu-kun! You're acting like I'm throwing away my future by going to Namimori Middle."

"You kind of are," Tsuna stressed. "Hibari-san is there. You can't do what you want all the time if he's there. You'll be unhappy."

Hyacinth waved him off. "Bah," she said. She wasn't looking forward to spending a year or two with the bloodthirsty perfect either. "I'll be fine because you're there. And you'll be fine because I'm there. It works out, doesn't it?"

Tsuna was silent, but he nodded.

"Good, we're here," Hyacinth chirped. She tossed the bag at Tsuna, who clumsily caught it with a yelp. "Start throwing and I'll start hitting. Broken glass in an ally isn't unusual," she wheedled, and Tsuna agreed, still looking a bit unsure.

"You could have at least taken them out of their packaging," Tsuna complained. Hyacinth didn't say anything, only readied herself with the bat. With one last unsure glance around, Tsuna tossed one of the lightbulbs towards her.

 _Crack_

"Boom!" Hyacinth yelled, and Tsuna laughed. "Another, dude."

"'Kay," he agreed, Hyacinth's slight mania rubbing off on him. Tsuna readied another lightbulb, and tossed it with a bit more confidence. Hyacinth managed to clip it with the end of the steel bat she managed to steal from the elementary school storage room.

"Bang," Hyacinth enthused. "You wanna try, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna was already unpacking yet another pack of lightbulbs. He jerked and shook his head, frantically. "Yeah, no; I can already imagine how badly that will turn out," Tsuna shuddered, looking a bit uneasy. Hyacinth shrugged.

"If you say so," she said, dubiously. Hyacinth rested the bat against her side, and pulled down her goggles to cover her eyes. "Wait! I probably should have done this earlier," she said, and Tsuna blanched.

"That would be wise," Tsuna said, a bit horrified. "What if the glass got into your eyes?"

"I'll become a cool super villain that goes by the name of 'Glass Eyes', and my super power would be shooting glass out of my eyes," Hyacinth returned, and Tsuna looked exasperated. She laughed. "I'd be blind, what else do you think I'd be?"

"Let's not find out," Tsuna pleaded.

"If you throw good, I'll hit good," Hyacinth readied herself again. "Now, _throw._ "

Tsuna tossed another lightbulb.

This went on for awhile, until they finally ran out of lightbulbs. "Finally done?" Tsuna asked, glancing up at the darkening sky. The days were still really short, and Hyacinth could tell Tsuna was getting anxious. _What a scaredy-cat_ , she thought. She wasn't frightened, she was there, and she had a bat.

That, and Hibari and his gang of delinquents often wandered around. The crime rate went, like, _way_ down ever since he created that committee of his. Sirius had been flabbergasted and bewildered, before shaking his head and saying that this place was _weird_. Hyacinth had shrugged at the time, uncaring for the perfect other than the fact that he was intent on making her life a living hell.

"Let's go eat," Hyacinth pushed up her goggles. "We haven't eaten at TakeSushi in a while," she grinned. Tsuna looked a bit put out.

"But one of our classmates work there," Tsuna blanched. "Yamamoto-kun, right? What if he's there with his friends? His friends aren't as nice as he is," he muttered, and Hyacinth rolled her eyes, making Tsuna toss the empty plastic bag into the alley dumpster. She posed with the baseball bat.

"Look, I'm like a _yanki_ ," Hyacinth grinned. Tsuna squeaked, quickly flailing around until she wasn't posing in such a suspicious and dangerous way. He glanced around, worriedly. Hyacinth sighed. "Look, Tsuna, we're a team. We can handle anything," she told him, seriously. Tsuna stared at her. "And plus, we have a bat! That makes us, like, totally better than other kids."

"Where did you even get that bat?" Tsuna asked, suspiciously.

"I'm hungry," Hyacinth said, decidedly not answering him. Tsuna squeaked when she pushed him forward, both of them emerging from the dark alley. "Let's go eat. If anyone bullies us, I'll just threaten them with chopsticks," she told him. "Let's go, let's go, let's go~!"

"Ugh, fine," Tsuna complied.

Yamamoto Takeshi was an alright guy, in Hyacinth's opinion. He was friendly and charming, and always had a smile on his face. His conversations were generally light, and left one feeling oddly good about themselves. Tsuna had been quick to label him as too popular and friendly to ever be friends with, and usually retreated whenever Yamamoto decided to talk to the pair. Hyacinth was on slightly better terms with the famous baseball star, but it was still distant. Hyacinth wasn't all too beat up about it, her interests and his differed. He was like a jock, and she was well on her way to be a delinquent, apparently. A hyper and impulsive delinquent.

Hyacinth didn't mind, not really.

"Oh, yo, Tsuna, Hyacinth," Yamamoto Takeshi greeted, standing up from being bent over the table, cleaning it methodically. "You guys come to eat?" He grinned, and Hyacinth waved at him. Tsuna sputtered beside her, suddenly flustered.

"Nah, we came to rob you guys," Hyacinth chirped. Tsuna sputtering became worse, and she almost winced when he jabbed an elbow into her side. She, not so lightly, shoved an elbow back and he stumbled with a yelp. She laughed.

"Ow," Tsuna hissed at her, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can make it hurt worse," Hyacinth offered, gesturing to the bat she had. Tsuna paled, and shook his head. "Just kidding, Tsu-kun. I'll never hurt you," she laughed, as she tugged him along and pushed him into a chair. She sat herself next to him.

"That looks familiar," Yamamoto commented, coming up beside them. He held out a hand. "Can I see?" Hyacinth nodded, pushing the bat towards him. It'd figure he'd know it, as intense and fanatic as he was about baseball. "Is this from the school?" Yamamoto blinked.

"You can tell? Wait, Hyacinth, you _stole_ ," Tsuna whirled on her, eyes wide and expression disproving. Hyacinth shrugged at him.

"It is," Hyacinth said, rocking back in her chair and placing her feet on the table. Yamamoto twitched and not-so-lightly used the bat to push her chair back down. His smile didn't change, though. "Oops, sorry," Hyacinth apologized.

"It's okay," Yamamoto laughed. "I just don't want to clean up whatever your feet left onto the table. It's really rude, ya' know?" Tsuna groaned, face first into the table beside her. Hyacinth poked him with her finger.

"Don't lecture her," Tsuna groaned. "She never learns from her mistakes."

"Ah, ah, ah," Hyacinth waved a finger, cutting in. "I do learn from my mistakes. Just like the time I accidentally threw an egg at your face, and you cried. I never threw an egg at you again, did I?" Tsuna shot her a bland look, and she grinned. "I learn and live, just like everyone else."

"Learn and live, huh?" Yamamoto muttered. Both Tsuna and Hyacinth's attention was drawn to him, and his expression cleared. His smile was back in place. "Haha, that's interesting," he said, hurriedly. "Anyways, what do you guys want to drink?" Yamamoto placed small menus in front of them.

"I want some soda," Hyacinth nodded.

"Water, for both of us," Tsuna said, quickly. Hyacinth rolled her head to her side, to stare at Tsuna. He shot her a knowing look, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "She doesn't need anymore caffeine." Tsuna explained, and Yamamoto laughed.

"You're really hyper, aren't you?" Yamamoto asked her, with a smile. He wrote down something on his little notepad. "I'll be back with your drinks."

"Live a little, Tsu-kun," Hyacinth turned to her friend after their peer left. "I don't bounce off the walls like I used to, ya' know?" Tsuna shook his head. Hyacinth only shrugged and glanced away with a laugh. It was true, though, that soda and her were naturally enemies from the get-go. She once chugged a whole bottle of the really sugary kind, and Sirius had found her in the backyard, at a bottom of a hole she had dug.

It was a weird night. Tsuna never let her live that down.

Nowadays, she usually used soda cans as fizzy bombs and left them around town for Hibari-san to find.

"Here are your drinks, are you two ready to order?" Yamamoto came back to place the drinks next to them. Hyacinth instantly grabbed her straw, and pulled it out long enough for her to blow the sleeve at Tsuna. Tsuna shot her a scathing look. "Haha, you two are close," Yamamoto commented, lightly.

"Best friends since forever," Hyacinth turned towards Yamamoto. "A bunch of bullies tried to bully him when he was showing me around, when I moved here. That is where I figured out my super power of beating people up," she puffed herself up. "Tsuna patched me up afterwards. That's when I knew that we were destined to be friends."

Tsuna groaned beside her. "Beating people up isn't a super power, Hya-chan," he said.

"It sounds cooler that way," Hyacinth defended. "Anyways, I want set number 4."

"Set number 1," Tsuna said, gathering up their menus. Yamamoto took them with a smile, after he was done scribbling down the order. "T-thank you, Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna offered, and Hyacinth wanted to cheer.

"Yeah, go Yamamoto-kun!" Hyacinth enthused, and Yamamoto laughed. "You're the best," she told him, seriously, and Yamamoto laughed again.

"You're really hyper," Yamamoto stated, before turning back to head towards the kitchen. Tsuna sighed, and poked her to get her attention. Hyacinth turned back in time for her to be shot at with Tsuna's own straw sleeve.

"Payback," Tsuna smiled, slightly.

"Low blow," Hyacinth huffed. She gathered up the litter and put them in the middle of their table. "I wonder if Yamamoto-kun would mind if I set them on fire," she commented. Tsuna absently smacked her wandering hand away from her jacket's pocket, lightly. "Ouch, that hurt," Tsuna gave her a bland look. "That hurt my _soul_." Hyacinth gave him her best innocent look.

"I'm surprised you managed to make it this far," Tsuna rolled his eyes, a smile quirking at his lips. "Your impulse control is lower than my grades, and that's saying something," he teased. Hyacinth laughed; probably true, now that she thinks about it. Hyacinth had been trying to work on her impulsivity and hyperness, but it was hard sometimes.

"Don't insult me by lumping me with _your_ grades, Tsu-kun," Hyacinth responded.

At Tsuna's scandalized gaze, Hyacinth laughed.

It was a good night.

-0-0-0-

"Are those your classmates, Takeshi?" Tsuyoshi asked, good-naturedly. Takeshi nodded, waiting for their sets to be finished inside the kitchen. He kept an ear open for the entrance to ring again, just in case another set of customers came in. Their rush hour was slowly approaching, and Takeshi was mentally preparing himself for yet another evening of smiling and small talk.

It was a lot to handle after a while.

 _Just keep smiling_ , Takeshi reminded himself. _You'll be good._

"Ah, then tell them about the student discount that I just administered," his father grinned. "I want a lot of kids to come and eat here. It'll be like the spot for all the cool kids to come to," he enthused, and Takeshi laughed, slightly.

"That would be fun," Takeshi smiled. _What a hassle_.

No doubt his classmates would come around more often then, bugging him. More useless conversations, more empty encounters; Takeshi was dreading it. But his father seemed happy, so he buckled down his growing apprehension and dread, and did what he always did, smile. At the very least, it was Hyacinth and Tsuna this time around. They were interesting, Hyacinth more so than Tsuna.

To be honest, it was only recently that Takeshi noticed her. Hyacinth was an impulsive and hyper girl, well on her way to becoming a delinquent, as many people would say. She reminded him of himself when she was younger, before his mother had talked to him about his behavior. While he wasn't hyper, impulsive without a thought towards other was something he found himself doing. Nowadays, though, he thinks before he acts. Every little thing he did, every little action, was thought out, gauging his peers and adults reactions, careful about his place in society. Takeshi's only relief was baseball, something he managed to cling onto, even after his mother passed away in an unfortunate accident.

The only little thing that managed to survive the aftermath of that was his love of the sport.

Sometimes, Takeshi would wonder what it'd be like to be more friendlier with the impulsive girl. That, of course, included being more friendlier with the school's so-called 'dame'. Children were cruel little bastards, weren't they? Takeshi didn't care for labels, and couldn't see how Tsuna was that different from the rest of their peers. His grades weren't good, often being called out in class by their various teachers, much to Hyacinth's irritation. But other student's grades weren't good, and they didn't get called 'dame'.

Maybe it was because he was clumsy?

People were weird, Takeshi had decided.

Hyacinth seemed to be weird in the terms of not fitting to what people expect her to be. A foreigner who was a troublemaker? That seemed to be only filling a stereotype many older people seemed to have about foreigners, now that Takeshi thinks about it. Loud, troublemaking, and impulsive. But Takeshi was interested in her due to the fact that she was still so likeable, despite being all of the above. People seemed to _love_ her, for some reason, despite being friends with the local 'dame', and being the way she is.

Maybe he was jealous of that.

Takeshi wasn't like any of that, wasn't allowed to be himself, didn't even _know_ himself at this point- he had to think about everything he did, everything he said, just to be liked.

And she had all of that, just by being herself.

Then she chose to just be friends with _dame-Tsuna_?

Maybe he was jealous of _him_.

Takeshi didn't know, feelings were weird. He startled when his father poked his forehead with a loud laugh. "Daydreaming on the job, son?" Tsuyoshi grinned. "What am I paying you for, again?"

"Speaking of pay," Takeshi forced a laugh out, still slightly amazed at how natural he can make it out to be. It was easier to fake than what people said, especially on the internet. "You still haven't paid me my week's allowance, ya' know?"

"I give you a home, a bed, and roof over your head," Tsuyoshi adopted a look of mock-hurt.

"And force me to help you out in your restaurant?" Takeshi grinned. "Child labor, old man," he joked, feeling a bit tired all of a sudden. "Is this theirs? I'll take it out to them," Takeshi took the platters and left the kitchen, hearing his father's laugh warmly behind him. That was slightly satisfying to hear, Takeshi thought.

Luckily, his two classmates were still the only ones in the restaurant. Both of them were arguing over something, good-naturedly. Hyacinth was gesturing animatedly with her hands, and Tsuna was smiling at her, in an exasperated and kind way. Something twinged uncomfortably in Takeshi's stomach, and he set the platters down loudly in front of them.

Hyacinth jerked and looked ready to jump at him.

Tsuna yelped, already absently placing a restraining hand on Hyacinth's shoulder.

"Woah! You scared me," Hyacinth accused, loudly. "You're quiet, ya' know? I almost thought you were an attacker," she laughed, already pulling apart her chopsticks. "Luckily, you aren't. You are a bringer of food~"

"Please don't attack him," Tsuna pleaded. He sighed, and sent another wan and shaky smile at Takeshi. "T-thanks, Yamamoto-kun."

"It's not problem," Takeshi laughed. "Anything else you guys want?"

"I want one of your dad's chopping knives," Hyacinth chirped, without hesitation. Tsuna choked on his first bite. "Chop, chop," she enthused, mimicking a knife with a chop of her hands. "I want to carry it with me to school. Are you going to school, Yamamoto-kun?"

"No knives," Tsuna interjected, interrupting whatever Takeshi was going to reply.

"I don't think my dad will be happy if his favorite knives went away," Takeshi had to backtrack and rethink what he was going to say, quickly. Fast thinking was something he always prided himself on. "And yeah, secondary school is compulsive, isn't it?" He laughed.

"I mean," Hyacinth said around a mouthful of food. She swallowed, and chugged some water down. "What school are you going to? Nami Middle? That's where we're going," she gestured to both Tsuna and her.

"Yeah, that's where I'm heading, haha," Takeshi replied with an easy smile. "I wonder if we'd be in the same class again. Wouldn't that be cool?" He laughed again.

"That would be neato," Hyacinth nodded. She brought Tsuna into the conversation. "What do you think, Tsu-kun?" Tsu-kun, huh? Takeshi never understood the nicknames people, friends, bestowed upon each other. The only person who was allowed to do that to him was his mother, and now she was dead.

No more little _Take-kun_ anymore.

"It'd- it'd be fun," Tsuna managed, with a strained expression. He lowered his eyes to the table, expression thoughtful. "I wonder if Kyoko-chan will be there, too," he mumbled, and Hyacinth laughed, loud.

"You and your creepy crush," Hyacinth enthused, making Tsuna shoot a scandalized look towards her, face flushing red. "Just go up to her, and make a confession, Tsu-kun. Proclaim your love, and it should be good," she nodded, sagely.

Takeshi laughed, "You sound like you had experience."

"She doesn't," Tsuna groaned. A pause, and he sent a shy look towards an oblivious Hyacinth. "Have you, Hya-chan?" Hyacinth glanced at him, blinking. Tsuna flushed redder. "Had a crush, I mean?"

"A crush?" Hyacinth mused. "I don't think so? I mean, I can crush people underneath my boot," she smiled. "Is that the same thing?" Takeshi laughed, a bit more genuine than he had in awhile. What an impulsive and carefree girl, Hyacinth was.

"Crushes are weird," Takeshi agreed.

"Yeah," Hyacinth chirped. "Don't be a shoujo, Tsu-kun. Be a shounen, and be confident," she winked at Tsuna, who groaned again. "Be the main character you always want to be," Hyacinth enthused.

"As if a cool story would ever revolve around _me_ ," Tsuna muttered. He shook his head. "Whatever, forget I mentioned it. I don't need advice on my love life," he defended.

"You mean, _lack_ of a love life," Hyacinth reminded him. Tsuna shot her a bland look, and Takeshi couldn't help but laugh again. Something about these two felt genuine and amusing, he noted. Takeshi was vividly reminded of his own empty existence and social life outside of baseball, and inwardly winced. As popular as he was, everyone 'close' to him felt so far away, lacking the genuine connection these two seemed to have.

"Whatever," Tsuna enunciated, a bit defensive. He sighed and looked at Takeshi once again. "Thank you for waiting for us, Yamamoto-kun," he thanked, again. Awkwardly, Takeshi noted.

"It's his job," Hyacinth scoffed, making Tsuna glance at her, warningly. Her platter was already empty and she was drinking her drink, weathering Tsuna's disapproving glance with as much consideration as she usually did. Which was to say, hardly any at all.

"It is my job," Takeshi agreed, with an easy smile. "Anyways, it was great talking to you two. I hope you guys come back," a pause, and he sighed internally. "Wait, before I go, I want to tell you something my father has started to do recently. A student discount," he grinned. "As long as you are a student of some sort in Namimori, you can get a slight discount with every meal you have here."

"Woo! Cheaper food!" Hyacinth enthused.

"Oh, that's cool," Tsuna said, awkwardly. He looked pretty interested, though. "Is it some sort of marketing strategy to get younger customers?" Tsuna flushed at his words, and Hyacinth snickered at him.

"Wow, rude," Hyacinth commented.

"Nah, I think my dad is trying to hint at me bringing my friends around more often," Takeshi admitted, with a low laugh. It felt a bit hollow. Hyacinth's striking green eyes flickered to him, momentarily, before focusing back on watching her drink rapidly disappear. Tsuna had given him his unwavering attention, though. "Maybe he thinks that they'll come around more if the food's cheaper, haha," Takeshi explained.

"Oh," Tsuna managed. He looked momentarily uneasy. "Do they not come around often?"

"Not really," not that Takeshi was helping with that much. It wasn't like Takeshi was going out of his way, or anything, to hang out with any of his elementary school friends, outside of baseball. On that note, it wasn't like anyone was going out of their way to hang out with _him_ , either.

"Then they're sucky friends," Hyacinth declared, finally putting her empty cup down. "You need better ones."

Takeshi huffed in amusement, slightly. "Is it really that easy?"

"Of course," Hyacinth waved a flippant hand towards him. Tsuna stared at her, probably thinking the same thing Takeshi was thinking; for her, it was probably really easy. Takeshi felt a stab of envy in his gut, and his fingers flexed beside him. "In fact, here," she stood up.

Okay, either she was really short, or he was really tall.

Probably a combination of both; Takeshi never noticed it before, really. This was seemingly one of the rare times where she stood beside him, actually.

"I decree, as Black Hyacinth," Hyacinth announced. Her English wasn't accented, and Takeshi was reminded that she _was_ a foreigner, despite her many years here in Namimori."To be your friend." She punched his arm, making Takeshi laugh at the pain, and her. _Was it really that simple to her_? Takeshi laughed again, still a bit bemused.

"That was easy," Takeshi said.

"Did you have to punch him?" Tsuna asked, worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Takeshi waved him off. Hyacinth grinned at him, and he couldn't help but smile easily back. It was surprisingly simple to do that much. "I guess this means we're friends, now?" Takeshi joked, slightly. It couldn't be that simple, and Takeshi was only humoring her. He had no doubt that she'd forget about his novelty soon enough, considering the fact that being friends with him seemed to be a placeholder for many other kids.

Who wouldn't want to be friends with a popular kid, right?

Hyacinth shrugged, already taking out her wallet and making Tsuna groan, and stand up. "It means whatever you want it to mean," she said, mysteriously. She slapped the money onto the table, uncaring for the fact that Takeshi _didn't_ bring out a check yet. "Keep the change," Hyacinth chirped.

"Er, okay?" Takeshi blinked.

"See ya' later, Yamamoto-kun," Hyacinth announced, tugging her goggles down over her eyes. She grabbed the stolen baseball bat from beside the table and took a few practice swings. Her stance was all wrong, Takeshi noted. "Tsuna and I need to go commit more crimes before the day is over, we just needed to eat to recharge."

"What?" Tsuna squeaked. "It's night, now!"

"The perfect time to be troublesome," Hyacinth countered, easily.

"The perfect time for Hibari-san to kill us," Tsuna hissed, anxious.

They argued, and countered each other easily, and Takeshi watched them leave the restaurant. He was left feeling oddly empty, and he sighed. Tsuna was right, though, it was night out, despite it still being slightly early in the evening. Speaking of which, a few customers walked in past the arguing kids, talking loud. Takeshi pasted on a smile, and set to work on bus boying the empty dishes and glasses back to the kitchen.

 _What a weird pair_ , Takeshi thought back to Tsuna and Hyacinth.

Or more specially, he corrected, _what a weird girl_.

-0-0-0-

"Kyoko-chan is dating Mochida-senpai," Tsuna bemoaned, on their way home. Hyacinth made a face, once she realized who he was talking about. Mochida, huh? That sexist pig who she had scared away in her first week. "What's the point of going to school now?"

"Oh, hell yeah," Hyacinth enthused, brightly. "Let's start skipping! We can hang around the town, and do cool stuff, like throwing empty glass bottles against an alley way wall. Or, or, we could go to that old junkyard with cars and beat the windows in." Both of them were walking back towards the house, Tsuna walking with slow and heavy footsteps. Hyacinth was walking her bike home, a motorized bike.

It was really just a bike with an an electric battery attached to it.

It was cool, in her opinion.

"I just wanna die," Tsuna lamented.

"Ugh, you're worse than a shoujo main character," Hyacinth groaned. "Look, I know how to cheer you up. Let's go to town tonight, and sneak up onto the library's rooftop, again. We can stargaze, or we can bring eggs and drop them down on Disciplinary Committee members heads! It'd be fun, and it'll take your mind off your lovesickness." Tsuna shot her a desperate look, and she sighed, toning down her usual mania to be more serious.

Tsuna was heartbroken.

Hyacinth didn't get it. He made no moves towards the girl in question, nor did it seem like he was inclined to do anything about it. As stated before, _creepy_. But oh well, Tsuna was a bit socially awkward, whatever. Now he was complaining? Hyacinth had thought that he had given up that right a long time ago when he decided to not do anything about his pathetically shoujo crush on Sasagawa Kyoko. Hyacinth had thought that his crush would either wither away, or become nothing more than a subconscious thought at this point.

"Don't be a baby," Hyacinth said, stubbornly. "You're a strong independent Tsuna who needs no girl to make you feel whole. Repeat after me: I am a strong, independe-"

"Will you shut it?" Tsuna snapped, before wincing. Hyacinth blinked. "I'm not in the mood for it," Tsuna defended, slightly. He wilted. "Sorry."

"..." Hyacinth stopped walking. Tsuna glanced back at her. "Look, I get that you're heartbroken. I do, I really do," no she didn't. "But if Mochida is really what Kyoko wants in a boy, then we have no right to judge. Free will, and all that. I don't get it, Tsuna, you never talked to Kyoko-chan before, and you're so heartbroken over her."

"She's an angel," Tsuna insisted. "Kyoko-chan is the nicest person I have ever met, and the sweetest. The school's idol," he mumbled. School's idol, huh? It was an impressive title considering they've only been in school for a few weeks. "If she had to date anyone, why must it be him?" Mochida had made it clear that he was the main tormentor of Tsuna, despite Hyacinth's reputation.

It was like he was trying to prove something.

"Look, everything will turn out fine in the end," Hyacinth commented, as they resumed walking. Their houses were on the next street over. "And if it's not fine now, then it's not the end. Dude, it's not the end of the world, I promise you. Even if it was," Hyacinth raised her fist, and Tsuna glanced at it. "We'll make it through. We're a pair, dude."

"...You're right," Tsuna conceded with a weak, almost watery smile. He fist bumped her, and Hyacinth grinned brightly back at him. He sighed, rubbing a frustrated hand through his hair. His naturally spiky and fluffy hair bent under the weight, before popping back up. "But I think- I need to think things over. I'll talk to you tomorrow, right?"

"Right-o!" Hyacinth enthused. "Take all the time you need." Tsuna sent her one last wan smile, before trudging on home. Hyacinth stared after him, before sighing and shaking her head. What a sad scenario for Tsuna, now that she thought about it. His one crush dating his main bully?

Maybe she should do something about it, like placing fizzy soda bombs in Mochida's desk at school. And maybe she could vandalize the Kendo gym he loved. Just to make Tsuna feel better, though.

"Yo, yo, guess who's home?" Hyacinth called into house. Sirius was lounging in the living room, reading, of all things. "Your favorite child, that's who," she answered for him, and Sirius laughed. Her guardian was, to be put shortly, a bad ass, and she was glad that he was her's.

"That's good, I was afraid it might have been a burglar," Sirius joked. "How was school?"

"It was alright, didn't get detention. Tsuna is depressed, though," Hyacinth seated herself beside her guardian, leaning against him. He shifted, wrapping an arm around her. "His once in a lifetime crush is supposedly dating his main bully."

"He still has bullies?" Sirius mused. "I figured you'd beat them off with a stick, by now."

"It's not as easy as it was when we were back in elementary," Hyacinth commented. "Hibari, the demon perfect, is there. It's like he's, ya' know, watching me." She shuddered. "Just because I'm a known troublemaker. That's called profiling, right?"

Sirius laughed, husky like a dog's. Hyacinth twitched at the sound. "It would be if you didn't already make a reputation for yourself," Sirius told her. "What do you want to do about dinner, tonight?" Hyacinth shrugged.

"TakeSushi?"

"You always eat there."

"...SushiTake?" Hyacinth offered. "It's just like TakeSushi, but in a parallel dimension." Sirius laughed, again.

"You'll have to tell me the story of how you figured out dimension jumping later," he said. "But right now, I'm busy doing adult stuff." Adult stuff, huh? Hyacinth got the hint and rolled away, jumping up. "I figure you should go do your kid stuff before dinner."

AKA, homework. Hyacinth rolled her eyes, fine, but whatever. She always did it, anyways.

Before she disappeared up the stairs though, she paused, and glanced back down at Sirius. Sirius had taken out his little notebook, and was scribbling away in it. There was always that tired air of mystery around him, shrouding him. Hyacinth wasn't no fool, she remembered the days they spent on the run. From what? She didn't know.

Even now, after so many years of living here, there was a slightly paranoid edge to him.

"Do you think I should try my luck on asking about our mysterious past tonight, or?" Hyacinth chanced an ask. Sirius stiffened, and shot her a tired look. She smiled, slightly, at him. "None?"

"Another time," Sirius managed, stiff. "Just- another time," he sighed, turning away. Hyacinth nodded.

"I'll hold you to it, then," Hyacinth said, before disappearing upstairs. She shook her head, and went to to her room. Unfortunately, Tsuna's room was facing his front yard, and her room was facing the back. Not- not that she wanted to be creepy, or anything, and try to peek at him through her own window.

But it would have been really cool if they could have messaged each other through secret code, or something. Hyacinth sighed, as she shut her bedroom door. She threw her bag down, wincing when she heard the sound of glass breaking. _Shit_ , she thought, instantly falling next to it and trying to dig whatever broke out.

Impulsivity was a con as much as pro, in some cases.

Glass dug into her fingers, and she hissed. But she managed to scoop most of it out, and onto the floor. She had managed to steal something from Hibari-san's temporary HQ room, and it was a glass plaque of some sort. While it's ultimate fate was going to be smashed ominously in front of the school as a message of some sort, Hyacinth couldn't help but feel as if that damned perfect would have laughed at her if he knew that she'd hurt herself while breaking it.

 _Karma_ , she thought.

Hibari and her had a complicated relationship. Hyacinth considered him her own form of personal hell, while he probably considered her a scratching post of some sort. Something to sharpen his claws on. While Hyacinth could handle the fights he sometimes instigated, it became really annoying real quick when he found her out about town, minding her own business. It was even fun at first, despite the pain that came along with it. The pain didn't phase her as much as a paper cut, by now.

Hyacinth had dutifully followed Tsuna to her own personal hell, while he was following Kyoko-chan. It was a weird chain reaction of events, huh? Hyacinth cursed, as she rummaged around her room, mindful of her cut up and bleeding fingers. She found the tweezers and her half-empty first aid kit under the bed, and settled herself down at her desk.

It was time to get the glass out, Hyacinth mused. It'd be an interesting story to tell Tsuna, tomorrow, though.

-0-0-0-

As it turns out, whatever interesting story she had managed to make herself the evening before didn't hold a candle to Tsuna's the next morning.

The ominous black-eyed baby with an innocent smile greeted her, with Tsuna glaring daggers at him. "Ciaossu," the baby's voice was squeaky. Childish. It sent tingles of forewarning down her skin, creating goosebumps. "My name is Reborn, and I am a tor-tutor of dame-Tsuna now."

Tor-tutor, huh?

Hyacinth bent down, and reached out with a bandaged finger. Reborn shook said finger, and she laughed, a bit bewildered. "You finally got a tutor? Dude, that's awesome," Hyacinth enthused, standing up.

"He's a baby," Tsuna deadpanned.

"A tor-tutor baby," Hyacinth grinned. "Oh, I'm Black Hyacinth, by the way," she introduced herself, quickly. Reborn tipped his hat towards her.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," Reborn stated.

"Haha, gross," Hyacinth laughed. "Anyways, what are you going to tutor Tsuna in?" And what type of grades are Tsuna already getting so early in term? Probably horrible ones, if his mother had finally decided to get him a tutor. Reborn didn't look that put-out by her rebuking his compliment, a sly smirk on his face as his dark eyes glinted with amusement.

"Don't believe his bullshit," Tsuna hissed at her.

"I'm going to tutor dame-Tsuna here to become a mafia boss," Reborn said at the same time, casually kicking Tsuna in the shin while he was at it. He shot him a dry look, "Don't curse in front of ladies," he ordered, shortly. Hyacinth felt a laugh bubble out of her.

"A mafia boss, huh?" Hyacinth grinned. "That's, like, totally cool, dude," she turned towards Tsuna, who shot her a betrayed look. "What? You know me by now," Hyacinth continued. Tsuna sighed, and shook his head.

"He's a baby, and mafia doesn't exist," Tsuna insisted. "I'm not going to be a mafia boss."

"The yakuza exists," Hyacinth mused. "Mafia could exist, you don't know." Reborn smirked at her, and jumped up on top her shoulder. Both of them faced Tsuna, and Tsuna shot a slight look at Reborn. Reborn didn't looked all that phased, though.

"Don't agree with him," Tsuna told her, exasperated.

Hyacinth was pretty agreeable about this whole thing, willing to go along with the flow. To be honest, she didn't know what to make of Reborn. He certainly seemed to be everything a baby shouldn't be, especially being able to talk to fluently and walk upright like that. Something about him tickled her the wrong way, and she felt instantly on edge around him, but she was willing to look past that. And the mafia... Hyacinth shot a side-glance at Tsuna.

Mafia would eat Tsuna alive.

Luckily for him, Hyacinth was there.

So even if the whole thing was real, and this wasn't some type of sugar-induced dream, Hyacinth still stuck true to her words from the day before. They were friends, and Tsuna was her bro, and they would get through whatever life throws at them.

Of course, it was after reaffirming her spot in Tsuna's life, it was when he was pathetically yearning for Kyoko and he gets shot.

 _Of course_.

Hyacinth barely had time to process the shock before Tsuna burst forth, in his underwear, shouting something about being reborn or something. He took off after Kyoko, towards the school, and Hyacinth sputtered. She wasn't one to usually have the rug ripped right out from under her, but _damn_ , did she feel like falling onto her ass in shock.

"What did you _do_?" Hyacinth asked Reborn. Without thinking, she was already mounting her bike, tugging her goggles down. Hibari may have banned her leather jacket, but her goggles would stay, thank you very much. Reborn smirked at her, crawling into the basket that usually held her school bag, apparently wanting a ride.

"Just gave him some motive to asking the girl he likes out," Reborn said. "He just needed to do it with his Dying Will."

Dying Will. Sure. Whatever.

"You think you could shoot me with that sometime?" Hyacinth laughed, a bit bewildered. She started her bike up, and started coasting through over the sidewalks, towards school. "I could use the extra energy."

"Something tells me you don't need it," Reborn stated. "And plus, if you get shot with it with no regrets, you'll die."

"Oh. Then nevermind."

 _What a weird day_ , Hyacinth couldn't help but think.

* * *

Review, favorite, follow, or whatever you do on stories that you read.

I'm making a conscious effort to _not_ make this story as angsty as hell, like my other stories.

I'm hip and can be humorous too-

-mms


	3. Chapter 2

**Lightning Never Strikes Twice**

 _Chapter 2_

 _This chapter isn't edited in any way, shape, or form. If you see a mistake, please don't hesitate to tell me! :D_

 **Warnings:** Non-graphic animal cruelty. Attempted suicide. Rushed writing.

 **A/N:** Takeshi's uncle appears in this chapter! He will talk about a story that will involve animal cruelty. This part of the story will be separated from the rest with this: **0** words, words, words **0**. And near the end of the chapter will end with Takeshi's 'being thrown away by the baseball god' thing.

Don't worry if you want more magic in this story; that will appear later, especially as the events at Hogwarts unfold without their proper main character there. :P Things over there will go downhill, _fast_.

But for now, let's get through the first Arc, or two, of KHR! :D I had told someone who reviewed previously that Hibari would appear in this chapter, but I had to rewrite this chapter a few times, and Hibari didn't make the cut, ;a;. So I hope I can make up for it with the long chapter, I didn't expect it to get this long, haha.

Gokudera didn't even appear- though, he is mentioned. ;a; I'm sure to make it up next chapter, when he returns!

fun fact of the chapter: The name 'Emi' can mean a few things in Japanese, but I chose it mostly because it can also mean: "(a) smile".

Enjoy!

[ **Edit 9/20/17** : THE FORMATTING KEEPS GETTING CLEARED!? What is wrong with this chapter, omg. I'm _so_ sorry! D:]

* * *

Life is the art of living with uncertainty, without being paralyzed by fear.

-Dr. W. Dillion

* * *

Hyacinth managed to find Tsuna.

Sadly, it was only after the fact that he had managed to confess to Kyoko in his _underwear_. The situation was too hilarious and funny, and Hyacinth couldn't help but laugh a bit helplessly at it. The only thing that stopped her from rolling on the ground in laughter was that Mochida threw a strong one at Tsuna.

"You bastard!" Mochida snarled, and Hyacinth grinned, a bit more tighter.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Hyacinth hopped off her bike, kicking the stand out so it will support her awesome bike. It was totally awesomer than Hibari's motorcyle, by the way! So more awesome, like, you didn't even _know_. But that's besides the point.

Mochida stopped short and sent her a flabbergasted stare. Tsuna had fallen onto his ass, shell-shocked by this whole situation. "Is this your idea of a sick joke?" Mochida snapped, still posed to run off after Kyoko. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, turning away and running off. "You both are nothing but a couple of perverts!"

"The only pervert one here is you, you bastard," Hyacinth called after him, knowing full well that he was too far away to respond. She huffed, and glanced at Tsuna, who was still sitting on the ground pathetically. "Are you okay, Tsu-kun?"

"I- I just confessed my feelings," Tsuna admitted, more to himself than her. " _I'm a pervert_ ," Tsuna whimpered, breathing becoming laboured. Hyacinth laughed, and weathered Tsuna's scandalized glare.

"The Dying Will time lasts for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, you revert back to normal," Reborn told Tsuna, breezily. Tsuna looked ready to reply before he looked like he had to sneeze, and Hyacinth watched curiously as he shot out a bullet through one of his nostrils.

"Ah! Gross," Hyacinth laughed, even as Tsuna stared incredulously at the bullet.

"So I was shot in the head after all!" Tsuna accused Reborn, unhappy.

"No duh," Hyacinth grinned, peering closer at Tsuna's nose bullet. "It's a good thing you died wanting to confess to Kyoko-chan, Tsu-kun! If you had died without regrets, then you would have died for real!"

"What?" Tsuna asked, weakly. Hyacinth glanced at Reborn for a clearer explanation, causing the tor-tutor to snatch the bullet from Tsuna's hand. He held it up so both of them could see it clearly, Hyacinth still slightly amazed that that bullet had been _used_ , and was physically inside Tsuna for some time.

It was a bit gross, now that she thought more about it.

Amazed, and a bit disgusted, she guessed.

"This is a Dying Will Bullet. When shot with it, the person who dies from this bullet will resurrect with the Will of the Dying. Your Dying Will is based on what you were regretting when you die," Reborn explained, further. He pocketed the bullet casually, and Hyacinth glanced at Tsuna's pale and stricken face.

"So, like I said before, it's a good thing your weird crush on Kyoko-chan saved you!" Hyacinth chirped, brightly. Hyacinth was still slightly reeling over the fact that Tsuna had the possibility of actually dying back there, but she consoled herself that a bullet wasn't anything special. A spoon could kill you, if you weren't careful.

Maybe Hyacinth could try and experiment with that later. Food for thought.

"I- I could have died!?" Tsuna reiterated, still slightly disbelieving. Hyacinth shrugged, deciding to give Tsuna some slack for today. He did just almost died, and he did confess to Kyoko-chan in his _underwear_. The only regret Hyacinth had was that she didn't think to get any evidence for this, seeing as of that Tsuna had literally rushed off after getting shot and the bullet waring off the moment she found him again.

Reborn looked undisturbed by this prospect. "I _am_ an assassin," he mused, making Tsuna sputter wildly. Hyacinth hummed, thoughtful. Was there a difference between assassins and hitmen? And she didn't think that was quite true, considering the fact that Reborn was here to train Tsuna to be a mob boss.

How could he do that if Tsuna was _dead_?

"How embarrassing," Tsuna almost yelped, scrambling up to his feet. He glanced around at the other pedestrians with a pale and embarrassed air, face flushing horribly. Wrapping arms around himself, Tsuna looked predictably miserable. He probably just now re-noticed the fact that he was in his underwear.

Hyacinth laughed, standing up as well. She brushed herself off. "You wanna continue on to school, or you do you wanna skip?" Tsuna gave her a bland look, which pretty much answered her. "Ah, right, right~! Let's go back, then," Hyacinth grinned, gesturing at her bike. There was a rear seat stationed right above her back wheel.

"This is crazy," Tsuna hissed at her, as they started to make their way back towards their respective homes. Reborn had settled himself back in front of Hyacinth, and Hyacinth was seriously glad that her bike was motorized to some sort. "How are you so calm about this?"

"I'm so excited that I am calm," Hyacinth told him, smiling cheerfully. While she was undoubtedly worried that this was the mafia that they were talking about, it was still pretty exciting. Almost like a shounen manga! "Just think of how cool this can be?"

"Cool? This isn't real," Tsuna muttered, defeated behind her.

Sawada Nana wasn't all that thrilled when they showed back up, Hyacinth noticed. Especially towards Tsuna, who she frowned sternly at. "Are you skipping class again?" Nana's eyes raked down her son's body, making him sputter wildly. Hyacinth snickered. "And where are your clothes?"

"I, erm," Tsuna stuttered, unsure.

"A prank gone wrong, _mama_ ~" Hyacinth interjected with an easygoing grin. She jerked a thumb towards Tsuna and shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that I miscalculated a certain joke, and it ruined his clothes." Nana softened considerably, smiling brightly at her.

"Ahh, Hya-chan~ It's so nice of you to visit," Nana cooed, before looking a bit unsure. "Still, you guys are missing school," she bit her lip, worriedly. "What would Sirius think, Hya-chan?" Hyacinth shrugged, not too worried. Unlike Tsuna, she wasn't failing in school, and despite her attendance record, she made pretty solid grades in each of her periods.

"He'll understand," Hyacinth assured her.

"Don't worry, _mama_ ," Reborn chirped. Nana, surprisingly, is reassured by this. Tsuna looked surprised and exasperated, glancing between both his mom and Reborn. "I got this," Reborn smirked, oblivious to Tsuna's bewildered staring.

"If you say so," Nana said, with an airy giggle. "I'm going to go run some errands. Hya-chan, will you look after the house while I'm gone?" Nana had caught them in the middle of slipping her shoes on, along with grabbing her purse from the entrance hallway; she resumed, looking at Hyacinth expectantly.

"Right, right!" Hyacinth saluted her, eagerly. "I'll make sure to try and not burn the house down while you're gone, _mama_!" Calling her _mama_ was still a bit weird, but Nana persistence at being called that wore Hyacinth down after awhile. Especially when she started to bribe Hyacinth with her omelettes, which were _amazing_. So in the end, it was a lost cause since the very beginning.

Hyacinth was weak to good food, after all.

Yamamoto Tsuyoshi could order her to slaughter her entire clan just for a good discount on her favorite sushi set. And she _would_. With a _smile_.

When they caught up with Tsuna, he was dressed in casual clothing and pacing his room worriedly. He kept gripping at his hair and breathing rapidly through his nose, face scrunched up. Hyacinth settled herself on his bed, Reborn in her lap, watching him; Hyacinth wondered if she should alert him to their presence or just let him figure it out for himself.

As it turns out, she didn't need to do anything. Tsuna whirled on them, narrowing in on Reborn. "I can't walk the streets anymore! This is horrible! And I definitely can't confront Sasagawa Kyoko, anymore, either!"

"It's not like you could have done it anytime before this," Hyacinth chirped, causing Tsuna to send her a scathing look. She grinned. "I don't know, man. You had no intent of telling her anything beforehand, right?"

"Dame-Tsuna wanted to, but couldn't," Reborn said, casually. Tsuna flushed horribly, and stomped towards them. Hyacinth blinked, realizing that his intent- oh, Hyacinth burst out laughing when Tsuna reached to pinch Reborn's cheeks ended with him flipped over.

"Wow, you're strong!" Hyacinth enthused, glancing at the preening baby on her lap. Man, what kind of training regimens did this baby have? Why couldn't _she_ have been this strong as a baby? Then again, she didn't think she was this coherent when she _was_ a baby...

So that only begs the question that if Reborn wasn't a regular baby, then what exactly _is_ he?

"I'm the World's Greatest Hitman," Reborn answered her. Oh, alright, then. Wait. Hyacinth laughed, a bit bewildered. She didn't ask that outloud, did she? That was embarrassing, if so. Reborn patted her hand, before moving off her lap to stand in front of her fallen friend. "I can read minds," he told her with a smirk.

That was-

So.

Cool!

"Oh, snap! You gotta teach me that!" Hyacinth pleaded, with stars in her eyes. Tsuna muttered something, rubbing his head and glaring at his tor-tutor. "Tsuna, did you hear that? Your tor-tutor can read _minds_! How awesome is that?"

"Don't believe him!" Tsuna complained. "You'll just encourage his delusions," he huffed. He winced, when his fingers prodded his jaw a bit too hard. "Ow, that hurt. I was fine when I was hit by that bike," Tsuna accused Reborn, staring suspiciously at him.

"Woah, woah, wait. You here hit by a bike?" Hyacinth blinked.

Tsuna sighed, nodding. "I think it was delivery for TakeSushi," he admitted, uneasily. Hyacinth gasped, pressing an offended hand to her chest.

"You monster!" Hyacinth accused. "What did TakeSushi ever do to you?"

"It's not like I meant to hit them!" Tsuna replied, defensive. "But I should have gotten hurt, then." Tsuna stared at Reborn, who was sipping from a cup- Hyacinth sniffed the air, slightly. Coffee? Coffee was yet another thing Hyacinth was barred to drink, alongside soda.

"That was because you were in Dying Will mode," Reborn answered, casually. "In that state, all your safety switches are off. So in exchange for risking your life by breaking your limits, you can harness amazing strengths."

"Oh, cool," Hyacinth mused. A heightened state of potential strength. you just had to die to get there. But Reborn's earlier warning of dying with no regrets just equaled death, so that was always a downside. She wanted to get shot with it, but she didn't know what she would regret when she was dying; regret was hardly an emotion long-lived inside of her, so it was risky either way.

Damn you, curiosity!

"I don't get it," Tsuna huffed. He sat next to Hyacinth on his bed, folding his arms defensively. He sent her a pleading look. "You can't honestly believe anything he says, can you?" Hyacinth shrugged.

"You were just shot with a Dying Will bullet, dude," Hyacinth laughed. "There has to be some truth to his words. And I like to believe in everything until proven false." She gestured at the smirking baby before them. "And if you want to prove him wrong, I wanna watch." Tsuna groaned, frustrated.

"Yeah, but," Tsuna protested, sullen.

"Being skeptical is a great thing until it is just outright denial," Hyacinth grinned. "And _denial_ is just a river in Egypt," she nodded, making Tsuna twitch. His English wasn't all that good, due to his lackluster performance in school; the pun was lost on him.

"If it's such a great bullet, then why haven't we ever heard of it before, huh?" Tsuna demanded, at both Reborn and Hyacinth. Hyacinth shrugged; she wasn't one for firearms, to be honest. Pranks, yes. Which soda pop worked the best with certain reactive chemicals- yeah! Actual ammunition was lost on her, and probably the rest of the population of Japan, seeing as of that firearms were banned in Japan.

Today was the first time she ever seen a gun.

And It was in the form of a _shapeshifting lizard_! How awesome was that!?

"The Dying Will bullet is passed down through the Vongola Family," Reborn explained, carefully. Vongola Family? Was that the family Tsuna was supposed to be the mob boss for? Hyacinth hummed, curious. Tsuna was still skeptical.

Tsuna questioned, "Vongola Family?"

"I was assigned by the Vongola's 9th generation boss to come to Japan and to train you to become the next mafia boss," Reborn said, innocently. Hyacinth grinned, excited and glancing between her bewildered friend and his tor-tutor. This was exactly like how a shounen manga would be like! Her best friend was going to become a main character!

Wait- what does that make her?

A witty side-character in which the audience will make a protection squad for?! Oh, wait, that's only in musicals, right? Maybe this could be a musical...

"The 9th is getting old, so he is planning on passing on the boss status to the 10th generation." There was a glint in Reborn's eyes as he said this, as simply as he could. 10th generation mafia boss, huh? What a title.

She wanted a cool title like that!

"Was Tsu-kun your first choice, or?" Hyacinth interjected, giving Tsuna some time to process this fully. "I don't see how an _Italian_ mafia family chose a Japanese born Tsu-kun." Reborn smirked, and pulled out a piece of tattered parchment. It was worn down, and Hyacinth had to treat it gingerly, carefully smoothing it out.

Ah, it was a family tree! Tsuna peered at it, unsure. "Dame-Tsuna is a direct descendant to the first boss of the Vongola Family, who retired early and crossed over to Japan. He is the great-great-great grandfather to dame-Tsuna, which makes him apart of the Vongola bloodline, and a legitimate heir."

"What happened to the others?" Tsuna asked, weakly. He pointed to the other line, with the other three people's names. He still looked unaccepting of the fact that this seemed pretty legit. Hyacinth pinched him, making him squeak and send her a slight glare, and she shrugged back.

"Enrico, the most qualified," Reborn pulled them back to attention. "Was shot in the field." He held up a picture of someone who looked- well, dead. Hyacinth blinked, and Tsuna made a wounded noise in the back of his throat. "Matsumo was drowned," Reborn smirked, holding up another picture. Hyacinth laughed, even as Tsuna paled even further. "The favorite child, Federico, was found reduced to bone."

"Why the hell are you showing us pictures of it!? Stop it," Tsuna demanded, covering his face and groaning. He looked queasy.

"How do you even have pictures of that?" Hyacinth laughed, a bit bemused. Was it sent to them as evidence? How- how cruel. And if all the other legitimate heirs have all been assassinated... Hyacinth's fists tightened on her lap, even as her leg shook off the jitters, unable to stay still even now. She'd have to keep an eye out for any future dangers concerning her best friend, it seemed.

Reborn smirked at her, as if sensing her thoughts. "Don't worry about anything, Hya-chan," he assured her. "I'll make dame-Tsuna into a fine mafia boss." Tsuna groaned again. "In fact," Reborn addressed Tsuna with a glint to his eyes, as if mocking him. "I think you found your first family member, dame-Tsuna."

Family member? Her? Hyacinth brightened, even when Tsuna choked on air. "What? Don't bring Hya-chan into this!" Tsuna demanded, whirling around to meet Hyacinth's excited and eager stare. "Hya-chan, you can't honestly- you-"

" _Yes_ , let Hya-chan into this!" Hyacinth whooped, punching Tsuna's shoulder in her excitement. He winced and glowered at her, face scrunching into something unreadable. She smiled at him, excitement running through her veins. She stood and rocked on her feet. "This will be fun!"

"Those people _died_ ," Tsuna reminded her.

"Everyone dies, Tsu-kun!" Hyacinth waved him off. She looked at him as sincere as she should, making him falter. "Don't you wanna live life to the full, Tsuna? Don't you wanna live everyday like it's your last?" Tsuna stared at her, before glancing away and folding his arms.

"You're sounding like my mother," he complained, unhappily. It wasn't exactly a full agreement, but Hyacinth took it. After all, they were good friends, and Hyacinth was determined to stick it through till the very end for Tsuna. And even if he complained a lot, she was pretty sure Tsuna would do the same for her.

"Then don't you think there's some truth in there?" Hyacinth puffed herself up. She glanced at Reborn. "Hey, hey, have you ate at TakeSushi's before? I'll treat us all out to eat~ The day is still young, and Tsuna and I can totally treat you out to eat! I can even show you my favorite places of Namimori- oh, oh, we can show him our favorite alley, Tsuna!"

"Why do we even have a favorite alley?" Tsuna lamented.

Despite the weird start to the day, Hyacinth was sure that it'd only be better going forward.

-0-0-0-

Yamamoto Takeshi returned to his home after a long day at school. Baseball practice had passed by in a blink of an eye, and Takeshi had to return home simply because Hibari Kyoya was starting to circle the field, warningly. No trespassers after club hours, and Takeshi didn't really want to start a fight with him.

"I'm home!" Takeshi called into the restaurant, when he entered. A few of his father's helpers called back out to him, and he let his eyes wander briefly, calculating. "Where's pops?"

"He went out to do an errand," his father's assistant manager, Tachibana-san, told him. "You wanna stay down here, and help out? You father told me to tell you to not go upstairs," Tachibana-san sounded slightly perplexed, and Takeshi hummed, thoughtful.

Not to go upstairs, huh?

Well, that settled it. Takeshi was going upstairs. Usually, he'd just shed his school bag in a corner of the kitchen, and start working, even in his uniform. He had spares for a reason, after all. Still, though, his father warning him of not going upstairs was too suspicious to _not_ go upstairs, now. "I need to get changed, Tachibana-san," Takeshi added with a laugh, to alleve some suspicion. "I'll come back down and help afterwards, I promise!"

"If you say so," Tachibana-san sounded reluctant.

Takeshi just flashed him one of his confident smiles, and walked through the restaurant. He relaxed momentarily once he was in the back, and started up the stairs, slow and evenly as he could. Carefully avoiding that one creaky step, Takeshi managed to find himself on the second level of his house. Nothing seemed out of place, despite it being relatively dark; still, something was _off_.

Taking a slow whiff of the air, Takeshi dimly noted that the faint smell of _cigarette_ smoke lingered. That could only mean one thing-

Takeshi barely had enough reflex to throw himself down to the ground, narrowly dodging the sharp swing of something _sharp_. Somersaulting forward, Takeshi straightened and flipped on the light, whirling around to meet the briefly amused stare of his uncle. His uncle straightened as well, sheathing his tantō.

"Oh, it's you," Takeshi forced a laugh, any type of content falling away inside him. He internally sighed, eying his uncle rather shrewdly. It was always a hassle to juggle his reactions when both his father and his uncle were in the same room, always a delicate balance of trying to show how he really felt, and trying not to worry his father.

His uncle knew who he really was; his father knew the person that Takeshi desperately wanted to be.

Kobayashi Eishun stood there, his lazy smirk never fading. He was dressed in a tailored suit, his tantō strapped to his belt. His hair was cropped short, and a distinctive scar marred one of his eyebrows. From what Takeshi's mother told him, it was from when they were younger; she had accidentally slammed the door open on an eavesdropping Eishun, almost giving him a concussion. And Eishun would agree with the story, just to clarify that his 'job' never hurt him.

Because he was good at his 'job'.

"Is that really all you can say to your favorite uncle?" Eishun asked, languidly.

"My only uncle," Takeshi clarified. "Does dad know you're here?" Obviously, considering the fact that he warned people to not let Takeshi go upstairs. Still, small talk was becoming something of an art form for Takeshi. Eishun shrugged, not really replying, and settled back into examining the various pictures of Takeshi's family on the walls.

Was he doing that in the _dark_? Takeshi made a face, and sighed, scooting past his uncle towards his room. He needed to dress himself, and put away his school bag. He highly doubted he'd get to do his homework today, which was fine by him considering the fact that he barely does it in the first place. Baseball will always, and forever will be, his main priority in school.

When Takeshi emerged from his room, he found his uncle staring intently at one of his mother's pictures. Takeshi faltered a bit. "I came to visit her," his uncle thankfully spoke, voice carefully blank. "So I thought I'd drop by and see how her son is doing." Eishun turned towards him, expression grim. Takeshi didn't know if it was genuine or fake, seeing as of that it was really hard to tell with his uncle.

"I'm doing fine," Takeshi assured his uncle, as confidently as he could. His uncle looked unconvinced. "I am," Takeshi smiled brightly at him. Eishun snorted, eying him skeptically.

"Sure you are," Eishun replied. "You can lie to everyone else around here, but me, Take-kun," Eishun told him, smile merciless. "Answer me honestly," he ordered, ignoring Takeshi's indigent look.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Takeshi sighed. What _could_ he say? Not much had changed from the last time he met his uncle. The same empty days, the same empty conversations; while the everyday activities was slowly building up, almost crushing his chest. Thankfully, baseball was a great stress reliever. The only real interesting thing to happen around here was Hyacinth and Tsuna, who seemed to getting into more antics since the day Tsuna confessed to Sawagawa Kyoko in front of the school, in his underwear.

An Italian transfer student had came and settled himself almost seamlessly into their friendship, it almost left Takeshi sick to his stomach. Despite the animosity Gokudera Hayato and Hyacinth shared, she still let him linger around. Most people knew that if Hyacinth truly disliked a person, she'd make sure they'd stayed away. Takeshi twitched, bringing himself back to attention, and blinking at his uncle, who was staring at him, blandly.

"What?" Takeshi smiled.

Eishun's eyes narrowed in on it. "Nothing," he finally said. "You need to be honest with yourself, Takeshi; if you're not going to be honest with everyone else, at least be honest with yourself." Eishun sighed. "You're what my sister left in this world, I don't want to see you doing something rash."

"I'm not lying," Takeshi replied back, almost too quickly. Too snappishly. Eishun didn't react, and Takeshi fought to keep a frown off his face. Frowning would feel too impersonal, too much like how he acted when he was younger. Too much before his mother's death. Despite what his uncle thought, he didn't really start to smile and laugh as much as this before his mother died, still struggling to understand the concept of such a thing.

Then his mother passed away, something inside him crumbled.

His father was more of a wreck then he was, during that time. Takeshi had to take up caring for the restaurant, and dealing with people. Somewhere along the way, his smiles and laughing became easier to dish out, and by the time his father came back to his senses, it had long since been ingrained in his reflex.

People had said that he had his mother's smile.

"I'm hungry," Eishun yawned, at last. He seemed to dismiss their current conversation, and peer intently at the stairwell. Takeshi wondered how he even got into the house, seeing as of that the more direct was way through the restaurant itself. Seeing as of that his father's helpers didn't know _why_ his father wanted him to not go upstairs, it was probably safe to say that his uncle came in some other, more discreet, way. So probably through the side entrance. "Is your father back?"

Eishun's voice was pathetically bland, as it always was when mentioning Takeshi's father. Their relationship wasn't much of a relationship at all, and consisted of both of them desperately attempting to ignore one another. Apparently, they had constantly tried to fight each other, especially for his mother's attention. Nowadays, their relationship was strained, and Tsuyoshi always tried his best to make sure Eishun's visits were as quick as possible. If that meant feeding him so he'd be on his way, then so be it.

"I don't think so," Takeshi shrugged. "If you want, I can make you something. I usually help out downstairs anyways, haha," he offered, and his uncle didn't glance at him. Eishun's sharp, yet still distant, eyes had trailed back to the wall which held various pictures of Takeshi's family. "Uncle?"

"Don't poison me," Eishun said, shortly. "If you manage to not do that, I'll tell you a story about Emi and I's childhood." Takeshi considered this, a meal exchanged for some more backstory? To be honest, Takeshi already knew about his uncle and mother's childhood, simply because his mother liked to talk. But his uncle always had his own interesting take on his side of thing.

Not to mention that he probably had his own secrets as well.

It might make Takeshi feel slightly better to hear more about his uncle's childhood, considering the fact that they shared a similar condition. Takeshi smiled. "Sure, why not? It'll be fun, haha," he said, as he lead his uncle downstairs. His father was just entering the restaurant, tense and pale, when they entered from the opposite side. "Hey, pops!"

His father's expression spasmed, eyes flickering from Eishun's lazy smirk to Takeshi's bright smile. "Hey, Takeshi," his father finally said, strained. He smiled, dimly. "I see you know that your uncle Kobayashi-kun is visiting, eh?"

"His _favorite_ uncle Kobayashi," Eishun interjected, smoothly. His father's expression tensed again, and he glanced at Takeshi's uncle in barely veiled distaste. "Takeshi here was just telling me about his prowess in sushi making, and offered to cook me something."

"Is that so?" Takeshi's father said, airly. He shot a quick glance at the curious helpers, Tachibana-san standing at the counter idly. With a quick gesture, everyone resumed their tasks, and the patrons turned away, continuing their soft conversations. His father sighed. "Just sit down, and don't cause trouble, Kobayashi-kun."

"I would _never_ ," Kobayashi remarked, turning away and finding an empty table. Takeshi followed his father into the kitchen, standing near the entrance as his father staggered to a counter and slammed the bags down, breathing shallow. It was always like this when his uncle visited.

Takeshi moved to stand next to his father, making sure to make his smile as soft as possible. "Hey, hey, is everything cool?" Takeshi's father turned towards him, barely. "It's just a quick visit, eh? Nothing to sweat about, haha."

"... Sure," Takeshi's father agreed, faintly. He blew out a forceful sigh. "Sorry about this, son. He always gets under my skin, even if he doesn't do anything." His eyes trailed back towards the exit of the kitchen, expression barely readable. "I'm guessing he wants his usual?"

"I'll cook it for him, pops," Takeshi offered. "Just worry about the restaurant. I'll keep him occupied, haha," his father looked like he wanted to disagree. "Plus, he told me that he'll tell me more about his childhood. More about mom." Takeshi pushed the conversation a bit, including the bit about his mom to get his father to agree.

It was a bit of an underhanded way to get what he wants, basically.

His father was unbearably sentimental, and a pushover, when it came to Takeshi's late mother. Takeshi wanted to feel bad about using this to his advantage, but what his father didn't know, didn't hurt him. He made sure to let his smile falter a bit, and his father's expression crumpled a bit.

"Fine," his father agreed. "Just make sure he doesn't stay the night. I don't think I can sleep at night if he's sleeping on our extra futon," his father shook his head, and Takeshi laughed. "And if he does anything to make you uncomfortable, tell me. I'll make sure he'll behave." His father nodded, and Takeshi smiled.

"That sounds like a threat, pops," he said, moving around the kitchen. A few of the helpers were bustling in and out of the kitchen, thankfully giving them time to themselves. Getting an extra apron, and putting on some gloves, he started to gather the stuff he needed to make his uncle his favorite set. "I didn't know you had it in you."

His father laughed, a bit more warm than it had been all evening. "I'm tougher than I look, son," he replied.

"Tell that to Hya-chan next time she bargains with you for a lower discount," Takeshi challenged, and his father sputtered. It was an inside joke used by the entire staff at TakeSushi, seeing as of that Hyacinth could bargain like the _devil_ , and usually got her way at the end of the night. His father was helplessly weak to such an earnest costumer.

Hyacinth used to come around often. Takeshi felt briefly annoyed that she doesn't do that much, anymore. Still, it made sense, she had her own life, and Takeshi had his. He had baseball. That was enough. Even if his average was faltering recently...

It was a bit disheartening.

His uncle Eishun was tapping away at his phone when Takeshi finally appeared, with refreshments and his uncle's favorite meal: chirashizushi. It was basically a bowl of sushi rice topped with various other toppings. Takeshi had managed to make thin omelette slices tucking in sauteed shiitake mushrooms, and crab meat. He made sure to add tuna _sashimi_ on the very top, the whole bowl sprinkled with sesame seeds. A cup of sake should help swallow it all down, and Takeshi sat opposite his uncle, with a small carton of milk, watching expectantly.

With slow deliberateness, his uncle glanced at him and put up his phone. He broke apart his chopsticks, and muttered a short, " _Itadakimasu_." Takeshi leaned forward onto the table, resting his chin on his hand as he watched his uncle dig in. His expression didn't change, nor did he make any appreciative hum; he just chewed and stared at his bowl, mouth full. Feeling slightly insulted, Takeshi had to remind himself that his uncle wasn't like Hyacinth or any of his other customers he personally served. At last, his uncle glanced at him, blinking. "It's good," he told him, with a quick flash of a smile.

Takeshi wasn't fooled. "Just tell me a story, uncle," he ordered, shortly. His uncle's smile was too quick, looked too off on his face. It made him uncomfortable to see such a bad imitation of a smile, a smile Takeshi was sure that he, himself, could pull off so easily. It only made Takeshi question who was the more- _real_ , was that the term he was looking for? More _real_. His uncle who knew that he was different and made no effort to change his behavior other than mock attempts, or himself, who put forth _real_ effort but felt no real results?

The answer wasn't something Takeshi really _wanted_ to know.

"When we were younger, you mother and I used to live under our strict grandfather. I think he was like us," Takeshi's uncle said, around mouthfuls of his he managed to look so dignified while gulping down his meal as ungracefully as he could was lost upon Takeshi. "He was an old coot. I'm glad he's dead," his uncle said, seriously. He paused in sipping his sake, staring at the cup before gulping it down in a hurry. "But one time, he gave Emi-nii a small little cat. It was a cute little thing, with grey fur, and giant shimmery eyes."

"Mom had a cat?" Takeshi mused. It made sense, in a way. He was never allowed to have pets, nor did he ever press for one. He didn't want to take care of some small, probably stupid, animal, nor did he have time for them. "Mom never said anything about any pets."

Eishun's eyes turned harder, and his smirk faded into something a bit more sterner. He idly scratched at the scar on his eyebrow. "I bet she wouldn't," Eishun murmured, carefully. "You see, when I was younger, I didn't know what was wrong with me. I didn't even know something _was_ wrong with me until I started going to classes with other kids, who acted differently from me. There was something _more_ about them, something that I was lacking," a pause, and his dark eyes met Takeshi's. "What _we're_ lacking. We lacked an understanding and empathy needed to connect emotionally to our peers. My grandfather wasn't much help, seeing as of that he had our estate to run. I wanted to feel normal. Or to feel _anything_ at all."

Takeshi stayed silent, willingly not trying to connect the dots. His mother had a cat, never spoke about it, and his uncle wanted to feel _something_. It was a puzzle that had a morbid conclusion, and Takeshi refused to finish it.

000

"Emi-nii's cat was just called _Neko_ , and your mother loved it to bits. She would dress it up in frilly ribbons and talk with it, as if it could actually understand her," Eishun snorted, resuming eating. His movements were slower, though, giving off an air of forced nonchalance. He played with his chopsticks. "I wanted to feel _something_ , anything. Whether it'd be happiness, or," he trailed off, sending Takeshi a serious look. His lazy smirk had fell away, and for a terrifying moment, his uncle's expression was blank. "Maybe even guilt."

"You killed mom's cat, didn't you?" Takeshi accused, leaning forward. His words were quiet, hidden under the bustle of activity that the restaurant usually had buzzing about during the evening rush. His uncle's smirk came back, and Takeshi felt a brief lurch of nausea rock his stomach, and he sat back, unsure how to feel about his uncle. "How old were you?"

"I was only 6," Eishun shrugged. "Emi-nii was only 8. She found me covered in the cat's blood, and wouldn't stop screaming." Takeshi wanted to press what exactly he did to his mother's cat, but refrained, unwilling to give in to the curiosity. Thankfully, he didn't need to, seeing his uncle smirk mercilessly at him. "I twisted that poor thing's head clean off."

Takeshi blanched, settled back into his seat more. His uncle observed him curiously.

000

"Does that disgust you?" Eishun questioned.

"I don't know," Takeshi admitted, with a slight grimace of his own. He didn't know how to feel about this news. He never considered killing little animals himself, nor did he think that was even an option. Seeing how his uncle apparently implied that he never got the results he wanted, he guessed that remorse and guilt were lost upon him. Takeshi didn't know how to feel, or how he even _wanted_ to feel. Normal protocol calls upon disgust and immediate disapproval at his uncle's actions, but Takeshi understood the reasons, _his_ desperate need to feel something that resembles something _real_ and _raw_.

It was all confusing in the end, and all Takeshi could do was settle on shaking his head, unsure. Eishun's huffed, bemused. "Maybe you have hope yet, Take-kun," Eishun praised him, though it felt anything but. He continued eating. "It never bothered me, and I can sleep at night. The fact that you don't know how to react is something that I never experienced. I never reacted at all." Eishun smirked.

"Is- is there anything that makes you feel anything?" Takeshi questioned, glancing over at the counter. His father stood there, rigidly, staring balefully at his uncle. When he caught his father's eyes, his father looked worried, and Takeshi waved him off. "Mom says that you live a very happy life."

Eishun snorted. "I guess I do," he said, vaguely. "I'm good at my job, and I am able to act more like myself. That's the best I can hope for, I suppose," his eyes focused on Takeshi's. "Have you found anything that makes you _happy_?" The emphasis on the last word was mocking.

"Baseball," Takeshi said out of reflex. His uncle raised an eyebrow. "What? Baseball is a good reason," Takeshi defended, narrowing his eyes slightly. His uncle shook his head, finishing the last of his meal.

"Just be careful, kid," Eishun said, standing up. He tossed his chopsticks lazily into the empty bowl, Takeshi standing up to follow his lead. "You still got a lot to learn about how we live. We're only good at one thing, it seems." How _we_ live, Takeshi thought bitterly. As if he needed any help in remembering the fact that he was different from everyone else, and despite the silent confirmation that he did have someone like him- he still felt isolated, considering the fact that he was still apparently _different_ from his uncle.

Takeshi watched from the back table, as his uncle left without another word. He lazily saluted his father, who glanced away. Eishun didn't even glance back, even when the entrance opened, and a few other regulars entered. As if he never visited at all, Eishun disappeared, and Takeshi sighed, gathering up the bowl, and started to clean up the table. His uncle's visits were always a 50/50 chance of either feeling more confused and unsatisfied as before, or left Takeshi feeling a little less alone. This was the former, and Takeshi couldn't help but think about his mother, wondering how she'd handle her little brother's visits, to how she'd probably teach him more about himself and the world more than Eishun ever could.

 _Only good at one thing, huh_?

It wasn't like his mother had taught him much before she died.

An uncomfortable twinge in his chest made Takeshi's smile a bit more flakier for the next few days to come.

-0-0-0-

PE was always such a pain.

Despite how 'good' he was at volleyball, at baseball- he was absolutely hopeless! Tsuna was clumsy as well as clueless when it came to sports, and the rules that came along with it. He highly doubted that Reborn will help him out here, glancing around the field for his small torturer. The only friendly face around was Hyacinth, who was pressed up against the chainlink fence and smiling threateningly at the already formed teams. Those who were unlucky enough to catch her fiery gaze blanched and pointedly not looked back in her direction, and Tsuna couldn't help but sigh, a bit exasperated.

Still, it made him feel a bit less alone.

Gokudera-kun had went to resupply his dynamite, so he had thought that things would finally calm down for a bit. Tsuna wanted some sense of normalcy, especially with Hyacinth. Ever since they met, Gokudera-kun and Hyacinth often butted heads, and usually ended with Gokudera-kun chasing after Hyacinth with his dynamite. It didn't help that Hyacinth had decided to use Gokudera-kun as her newest testing subject for her various ideas of pranks, which almost _always_ ended badly. Still, Hyacinth listened to Reborn when he told her to stop messing with their newest 'family member'.

And that was a whole other can of worms that Tsuna totally didn't want to get into.

The whole mafia thing sounded absurd, and dangerous. And despite what Hyacinth said, it was totally _not_ cool. And it wasn't the start of a bright, and new, beginning for him! It was troublesome, and being tutored by a sadistic baby wasn't all sunshine and giggles. It also didn't help that Hyacinth seemed to take to Reborn like a duck to water, eager to always help out with Reborn's ideas; it was bad enough that his own mom doted upon the sadistic baby!

Feeling a slight shiver of foreboding, Tsuna shot another quick glance around. For some reason, he felt like Reborn was watching him, _knowing_ what he was thinking. Purging his thoughts, Tsuna managed to focus back onto the arguing teams debating on how much they _so_ didn't want him.

Right when Tsuna was starting to contemplate _seppuku_ in order to avoid the embarrassment of the teams playing rochambeau to see who'll end up with him, someone spoke up.

"Isn't it alright? Just join our team," Yamamoto Takeshi grinned, easily, at him. Tsuna startled, whirling around to meet his easy-going expression. He wasn't the only one surprised, the other people on Yamamoto's team looked disheartened and shocked.

"Are you serious, Yamamoto? You don't have to let that loser in," one of their classmates protested, annoyed. Yamamoto laughed, throwing an arm around him.

In the background, Hyacinth yelled, "That _loser_ has a friend who can kick your ass!"

Everyone turned to stare at her, even as Tsuna wanted to groan in embarrassment. His face felt hot, even as he met Hyacinth's eyes. Even after all these years, she looked angelic and terrifying all at once. Her smile was bright, completely betrayed by how tight she was gripping the fence, and how threatening her eyes appeared to be. Her goggles were pushing the hair away from her face, acting like some type of headband.

She waved brightly at them, causing the world to move forward.

Yamamoto laughed, eyes lingering briefly on Hyacinth before turning towards the slightly bewildered classmate from before. Tsuna always had a feeling that Hyacinth could have flourished and be popular if she wasn't always sticking up for him. While he felt glad that he always had someone to stick up for him, he really did, but it didn't make the slight feelings of shame of probably holding her back from her potential any less bothersome.

"Don't be stingy, I'll just have to keep them from hitting, right?" Yamamoto-kun enthused, not a bit bothered by Hyacinth's interruption/warning. Taking his cue, all the other team members mumbled an agreement.

As the game went on, Tsuna was mostly used as a benchwarmer. He watched as Yamamoto apologized for hitting _another_ home run, almost everyone on the field cheering him on. The girls from their class where squealing, besides from Hyacinth who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else but there. She was probably getting restless, Tsuna couldn't help but think. She liked to be _in_ on the action rather than sitting on the sidelines. Still, Tsuna dragged his eyes back towards the most popular boy in their class, it was pretty amazing that Yamamoto was _this_ good at baseball.

 _He is pretty amazing_ , Tsuna thought. _If only I were like that_.

Sadly, he wasn't like that.

Which was probably why their team still lost.

"Loser! This is your fault! Sweep the field by yourself!"

His previous teammates accused him, handing him the sweeping equipment and walking off. Tsuna stared dejectedly in the distance, overwhelmed with the want to go home. It always ended like this, he thought. Hyacinth had disappeared after the game, as well, so no help there. The only real thing stopping him from giving into the temptation of just leaving was the thought of Reborn, and how he was parading his guns more often around the house. That- that was terrifying...

"Help has arrived!" A voice interrupted Tsuna's thoughts. A _familiar voice_.

"Yamamoto!?" Tsuna blinked, wanting to pinch himself. Then the guilt seeped in, and he blanched, slamming the equipment down onto the ground and furiously starting to sweep. "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault! I'm sorry, just when you let me on the team-"

Yamamoto laughed, relaxed. "Don't worry about it, it's just PE." He leaned against his own sweeping broom, staring at him contemplatively. Tsuna swallowed, nervously, unsure of what to say. Usually, when Yamamoto talked to him, Hyacinth was there to act like a buffer. In fact, he was pretty sure Yamamoto only talked to him _because_ Hyacinth was there. As if sensing Tsuna's uneasy thoughts, Yamamoto offered him a light smile. "Aren't you pretty amazing lately, Sawada-kun?"

Tsuna sputtered, ready to disagree.

"Like in the kendo battle, and the volleyball tournament," Yamamoto waved him off, bulldozing any protest that Tsuna was ready to shoot out at him. Tsuna clamped his mouth shut, glancing away. Those times weren't completely all _him_ , though; Reborn had helped out in those times... "I got you checked in my books," Yamamoto assured him.

"Eh?" Tsuna laughed, awkward. He was unwilling to say the obvious that those times weren't _all_ him, not when Yamamoto was grinning at him like that. He stuttered, flustered, "Oh, uh." Scratching the back of his head, Tsuna wondered how to reply to that. He was never really complimented all that much before, and Hyacinth's types of compliments were drowned in excitement and constant jitters. Gokudera-kun's types of compliments were awed and too appraising, it made him feel oddly uncomfortable.

And no one else bothered to praise him outside those two. Maybe Hyacinth's guardian, Sirius-san, but he often holed himself up in his house and was barely seen outside the living room of their home. Apparently reduced to doing nothing but 'adult stuff', as Hyacinth put it, who was hardly home to begin with, always hanging out at Tsuna's place or wandering the town causing trouble.

"In comparison, I just play baseball like it's all I know," Yamamoto sighed, standing a few feet away and starting to clean. Tsuna inwardly blinked, even as he followed suit. Wasn't baseball, like, his passion? It made sense that he'd know nothing else about the sport, if so. That type of devotion was something Tsuna could never hope to mimic, who was well-prepared for the life of a future convenience store worker.

It was the way life went, Tsuna couldn't help but think. The only good thing that someone like him will ever accomplish. "What are you're talking about? Your baseball skill is what's amazing," Tsuna told him, seriously.

"It's not going that well," Yamamoto admitted with a slight huff of amusement. It was- a bit off-putting, to sound so amused with saying something that sounded so disheartening. Tsuna faltered a bit. "No matter how much I practice, my average is dropping, and my fielding is screwing up. At the rate it's going, I think it'll be the first time I don't start since I began playing baseball." His expression was solemn, and Tsuna stared at him.

It sounded like some type of slump, Tsuna thought. He also couldn't help but think that he never seen such an expression on Yamamoto's face, and floundered a bit.

"Tsuna...," Yamamoto didn't look at him. "What should I do?"

The familiarity of his given name combined with the question made Tsuna sputter out in shock. _He's asking me!?_ Dame-Tsuna? He's asking _the_ loser, he's asking _him_ ; Tsuna desperately wished that Hyacinth was here, she'd no doubt knew what to do in situations like these. But she wasn't, and Yamamoto had asked _him_.

Before Tsuna could even think of a proper response, Yamamoto turned towards him with a bright grin. "Just kidding, haha. Lately, you're so reliable. So I just...," he trailed off, easy-going smile faltering slightly. Tsuna swallowed, glancing away in thought.

Tsuna never seen Yamamoto like this. More than ever, he wanted Hyacinth to be next to him. She always knew how to cheer people up, or at the very least, distract them from their down-mood. She was always excited and enthusiastic about something, and that usually drawn people to her like a magnet. Something about her enthusiasm rubbed off on other people. Sometimes, even someone like Tsuna felt it, and it helped inspire many nights of late-night readings. Not that those ended well, his grades were always- horrible.

Still, he wanted to help Yamamoto. But he also didn't want to bring up his tutor, Reborn.

"I guess more effort," Tsuna fumbled to say. "Is the way to go? I think," he offered, feeling a bit cheap. He felt like a liar, considering the fact that he barely put much effort himself. Those 'awesome' moments this school year was due to Reborn literally _shooting_ him.

"Yeah," Yamamoto looked a bit more sure about himself. His smile was back, and Tsuna felt a bit better about himself. Throwing an arm around Tsuna's shoulders, Yamamoto laughed. "I thought the same, too. We agree, like I expected," he laughed.

"We do?" Tsuna smiled, a bit relieved.

"That settles it, I'm staying here and practicing like hell!" Yamamoto laughed, and Tsuna couldn't help but laugh with him. He felt briefly elated that he didn't botch this encounter, especially without Hyacinth there to help him. In fact, the fact that he managed to do this _by himself_ was what made him feel so happy.

Maybe- he wasn't so lame after all!

 _I actually said something good!_

-0-0-0-

Hyacinth was laying on Tsuna's bed, even as he played a video game. She was flipping through one of the newest manga she had brought, having ditched school as soon as their PE class had ended. It was the latest installment about a story about _ninjas_. It involved a story about an energetic underdog who wanted to be the very best ninja there ever was. The plot was getting a bit convoluted at times, but Hyacinth felt too nostalgic to really give it up.

Maybe she should look into the anime; perhaps it could help explain it better, and fill in some plotholes.

Also, in order to apologize for ditching Tsuna the last minute, she had brought a new series that involved mecha and some pretty cute manga girls, whose clothing choices weren't really all that practical. It didn't seem like she needed to worry, though, seeing as of how good of a mood Tsuna had came home with.

Maybe he found out the meaning of life, cleaning up the field. Maybe his true purpose in life was to be a baseball field groomer.

Not as cool as a mafia boss, but oh well. If that's what he wanted, then Hyacinth would support him.

"Did something good happen?" Reborn asked, innocently. As innocent as a baby could polishing what seemed to be a nozzle of something. Some type of fire extinguisher, grouped together? The lettering on the side of the moderately sized tanks wasn't in any type of Japanese alphabet sets, nor was it in English. Italian, maybe? It looked dangerous, though, and Hyacinth peered at it curiously.

"Can you tell?" Tsuna smiled, brightly. "Today, a popular kid came to me for advice. What to do, what to do," Tsuna sighed, happily. He was still focused on the video game, and Hyacinth smiled, slightly. It was rare to see Tsuna so enthused about something.

"That's sweet! Who was it?" Hyacinth asked, sitting up on the bed and putting her manga aside. It was getting good, and the sensei in this installment was teaching the broody and angsty kid how to do cool trick with lightning. But that could wait, as Hyacinth wanted to be in on the hype of her best friend was experiencing. "Was it Kyoko-chan?" Hyacinth wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Tsuna, who flushed and fumbled.

"N-no," Tsuna denied, shaking his head furiously.

"Was it Yamamoto?" Reborn mused.

Hyacinth blinked, even as Tsuna whirled around to stare incredulously at Reborn. "How did you know!?" Tsuna snapped, as he usually did when it came to Reborn. Man, Reborn really _can_ read minds, couldn't he?

Reborn shot her a slight smirk, before focusing back on Tsuna. Welp, that answered her theories. Reborn = Mind Reading CONFIRMED! Hyacinth still wanted to know how he did that, maybe she could bug him later about it. As of right now, though, he seemed focused on Tsuna. "Make him your subordinate," he ordered.

"What? No," Tsuna protested. "It's bad enough that you dragged Hya-chan into this, I'm not letting you drag another one of my classmates into this. Besides, Yamamoto is hot on baseball! I only wanted to help him out as a _friend_ ," Tsuna shook his head, sternly. Hyacinth hummed, thoughtful.

Didn't Tsuna say that Yamamoto had came to him for advice? For what? Yamamoto didn't seem like someone who needed advice, but then again, she hasn't seen him as much recently. Especially since Goku-baka had came around, and Hyacinth spent half her time messing with him, and trying to keep a low profile from Hibari. Maybe she should give him a visit sometime soon, just to see what's up.

But if Tsuna seemed this happy, then maybe he solved it by himself. Hyacinth felt a bit proud that her friend was finally starting to blossom into a not-so-awkward and insecure man-child. At this rate, he'll definitely become a main character!

"You should try getting hot, too, for once," Reborn said, demonstrating the thing he's been polishing earlier as a _flame thrower_. Hyacinth stared in awe, even as Tsuna yelped and fell backwards. As quick as it had started, Reborn stopped, and lowered the hose. "That's the wrong meaning of hot."

"Don't say my line!" Tsuna snapped at him, still looking terrified. And kind of scorched.

"Man, oh man," Hyacinth enthused, throwing herself beside the contraption. She made grabby fingers for it, which Reborn -probably wisely- kept from her. "I must _ash_ you to let me borrow it, Reborn-san!" Hyacinth pleaded, pressing her hands together and staring imploringly at the bemused baby.

"No, no, and _no_ ," Tsuna hissed at her, still looking a bit fried. "That would be the beginning of the apocalypse; _no_ ," he sighed, and Hyacinth shrugged, not disagreeing with him. When she glanced back at Reborn, the flamethrower was gone, and she sighed, disappointed. "What would you even do with it anyways, Hya-chan?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to use it," Hyacinth didn't think that far ahead. "I'd probably go brighten up some people's days," she grinned, and Tsuna gave her a bland stare. "Well, it's not like he was actually going to give it to me, right? Hey, hey, are you still in a good mood~ We should go out to celebrate!"

Tsuna paused, embarrassed. "Yeah, but doesn't it seem like a lame thing to celebrate? It seems like a silly thing to be so happy about, now that I think about it," Tsuna faltered, and Hyacinth rolled her eyes.

"Siri once told me that the more your praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate," Hyacinth told him, sagely. "So try not to be so down, Tsu-kun! It's not bad to feel good about stuff," she persuaded, and Tsuna nodded, a bit unsure at first, before he agreed more firmly.

"You're right," Tsuna smiled, happily. "But I need to get dressed, _someone_ ruined my clothe- ack!" Reborn had casually kicked his shin, and was already padding over to the door to Tsuna's room. "Ow, ow, _Reborn_ ," Tsuna hissed, and Hyacinth laughed.

"Hurry up and get dressed, Tsu-kun~ We'll be downstairs with _mama_ ," Hyacinth told him, following Reborn. She let the door swing shut behind her, dimly noting that Reborn had took the time to wait for her. "Are you excited, Reborn-san? I think we'll go eat at TakeSushi's! There's this great deal that happens if you can finish 5 sushi sets, and an extra large bowl of chirashizushi, under a certain amount of time, you and your party gets their food for _free_."

Reborn smirked. "Sounds delightful," he said. A moment's pause, and he stopped, causing Hyacinth to falter on the stairwell with him. She glanced back at him, curiously. "Your guardian sounds wise, who is he?"

"Huh? Siri?" Hyacinth blinked. "Oh, he's great! He's so awesome! Like, totally awesome; he's the best guardian out there." How, oh how, was there any words to explain how she felt towards Sirius. He was, bluntly, _fun_ to be around, and Hyacinth trusted him with her life. He never put any restrictions on her, but also expected her to do the best she could do, trusting her to be her own person while also being there for support. Which was why she never pressed about their past, about _his_ past, because that's the _least_ she could ever do for him.

Besides, the past is the past. Nothing will change there. Hyacinth would much rather focus on what's ahead of her, instead.

"What about your real parents?" Reborn questioned. "If you call your guardian _Siri_ , I suppose you don't call him any type of familial relations." Hyacinth blinked. Well, Sirius _was_ her father figure, but- huh. She never thought about that. Sirius never pushed her to call him _papa_ , or _otou-san_ , or anything like that. It felt more- equal, calling him Sirius. Calling him _Siri_. "Do you know about your parents?"

"I don't," Hyacinth frowned. "Not that it matters, does it? I mean, I'm a pretty well-rounded individual. And it's not like I _don't_ have someone in my life," she shrugged, lamely. "If they're not in my life now, then I guess they're either dead, or don't care enough to be in my life to begin with. So why should I worry about them?"

Reborn stared at her, contemplatively. "I suppose so," he finally said, shrugging. "Sorry if I offended you by asking," he smirked at her, and Hyacinth smiled back. She wasn't that insulted, considering the fact that she didn't think there was anything to be insulted _by_.

"It's cool," she chirped. "Besides, I'm apart of Tsuna's Family, aren't I?"

Reborn's smirk widened. However, before he could get a chance to reply, Tsuna came barrelling out of his room. Reborn apparently had enough experience in his young baby life to somehow get the hell out of dodge, and away from any immediate danger areas. Hyacinth- wasn't so lucky, so when Tsuna tripped on the top of the stairs, in between stopping and rushing down because he spotted them just hanging in the stairwell, they both went down in a pile of limbs.

Hyacinth had the fortune experience of slamming her face into the wall, landing on her stomach; Tsuna landed harshly on her back, bending her spine, having somehow twisted sideways on the way down. " _Ooowwww_ ," Tsuna whined.

"I see a light," Hyacinth rasped out.

Reborn shook his head sadly at them, his smirk amused. "You two still have a lot to learn about being in the mafia," he told them, seriously.

Groaning in slight pain, Hyacinth couldn't help but agree silently.

-0-0-0-

"Hey, everyone!"

The outburst woke Hyacinth up, who sat up straight and winced slightly. Her limbs and torso were bruised, but the pain barely bothered her; it only hindered her slightly, an uncomfortable ache. She rubbed her eyes, blinking sleepily at the panicked looking classmate who had burst into their classmate.

"Yamamoto is about to jump off the roof!" _That_ woke Hyacinth up fully, and her eyes widened. She whirled around to see Tsuna's shocked and paling face, his usually big brown eyes widening even _bigger_. Guilt lingered in his expression, even as he shot her a helpless glance.

"What? Yamamoto from _our_ class?" One of their classmates blinked.

"That's impossible," another one of their classmates laughed, dismissive. "They're good pranks, and bad pranks, ya' know?"

Their panicked classmate shook his head furiously. "No, no. When he stayed after school practicing yesterday, he went too far and broke his arm!" Hyacinth winced, that sounded serious. Especially to someone like Yamamoto, who loved baseball more than anything. That must be devastating!

Tsuna's guilty look deepend.

Hyacinth shook her head at him, even as the rest of their classmates yelled about everyone going to the roof. Tsuna stood there, still shell-shocked, but Hyacinth grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along, lingering behind the rest of the crowd. Last night, when they were at TakeSushi, Hyacinth had duly noted that both Yamamoto-san and Yamamoto-kun weren't there, but didn't think too much into it. Maybe she should have pressed, but she didn't want to seem too nosy. When they emerged out onto the roof, Tsuna yanked back and Hyacinth blinked as he scrambled to hide behind a nearby wall, crouching down. Hyacinth hesitated, glancing in between Yamamoto who stood on the edge of the roof, and back towards the guilty looking Tsuna.

Deciding that Yamamoto's risk of death outweighed Tsuna's feelings for the time being- she'd deal with Tsuna's probably guilty feelings after there was no risk of Yamamoto falling to his death.

"Hey, Yamamoto, this isn't funny!" Hyacinth scooted past her worried and tense classmates, briefly wondering why there weren't any _teachers_ around. "You're taking it too far!"

"Heh. Sorry, but that's not true," Yamamoto didn't glance back at them. "After the baseball god threw me away, I have nothing left." Hyacinth twitched at the words. Okay, first of all, _what the hell_? Baseball god? Was that a thing? Was Yamamoto in a cult that worshipped said baseball god?

 _Wait, not important_. "No way," one of their classmates muttered.

"He's serious!?"

"That fence is rusty and might fall apart any time, too," one of Yamamoto's fangirls cried. Hyacinth barely spared them a glance, stepping forward silently. She really didn't know how to approach the situation, never really sparing this scenario a glance at all in her quick-thinking mind. Still, he said that he had nothing left; did he really think that?

"Yo," Hyacinth spoke up, glad her voice didn't betray her inner nervousness. She licked dry lips, and Yamamoto seemed to perk up slightly, sparing a brief glance back towards her. "Um, what'cha doing, Takeshi?"

Yamamoto let out a sort of bitter laugh. It was really jarring to hear it from someone like him. Hyacinth crept closer, cautiously. Luckily for her, Yamamoto didn't react, even when Hyacinth came up beside him, carefully leaning against the fence. It was rusty, and old, and she made sure she didn't put too much weight onto it. "If you came to stop me, Hya-chan, it won't work."

"I- I didn't," Hyacinth offered, hearing the slight gasps of shock behind her. She stubbornly kept her eyes forward, staring down at the ground. Wow, they were really high up, weren't they? Something queasy lurched in her stomach, and she tightened her grip on the fence. While she liked being high up, she didn't fancy the idea of going the hard way down. "Just wanna talk, 'ya know?"

"Oh, so _now_ you want to talk to me," Yamamoto told her, listlessly. Hyacinth jerked, momentarily surprised at the words. "Figures, huh? You seem to take a liking to no-goods like me, right?" He sent her a tired smile, and Hyacinth shrugged, unsure of what to say to that. _Take a liking to no-goods like you_? He was referencing her friendship with Tsuna, but did he really think that they both were _no-goods_?

"Wanna talk about it?" Hyacinth offered, still unsure. Concerned.

"What's there to talk about?" His smile was looking more and more tired, a bit more forced. Hyacinth shifted, worried. "I doubt you could ever understand, Hyacinth." His mouth tightened into a thin line, as he stared contemplatively down at the ground below them. "How could you ever understand wanting to die over failing at everything, right?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'failing'," Hyacinth shrugged.

Yamamoto's eyes sharpened on her, and his smile turned a bit colder. "Oh, do you not get the term? Because you're so _awesome_ , right? Never failed at anything before in you life," he sounded vaguely disgusted. Hyacinth laughed, a bit surprised.

"No, no, I failed a lot of times, I think," Hyacinth grinned at him. "But if you're so afraid of failing all your life, then you'll always fail. You gotta look at it a different way, Takeshi-kun. People _learn_ from failure, not from success." Yamamoto stared at her, almost uncomprehending, before jerking his gaze away, expression falling slightly.

"How can you still smile at a time like this?" Yamamoto asked her, words barely carried over to her. Any trace of _his_ smile was gone, his expression tired, and blank. Hyacinth didn't know what to say to that, so luckily, someone interrupted so she wouldn't have to.

Tsuna stood a little ways, apart from their classmates. Yamamoto didn't show any sign of noticing, but Hyacinth had a feeling that he knew who it was all the same. Hyacinth sent an encouraging look towards her best friend, who sent her a quick, nervous, smile back. "Y-Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna stuttered, bowing slightly. "I want to apologize!"

Yamamoto glanced at Tsuna. "What for?"

"What I said yesterday was a...," Tsuna closed his eyes. "It was a lie. Saying you're so frustrated that you want to die, or you want to die because of a career ending accident... Unlike you, I've never had those kinds of intense thoughts. " Hyacinth inwardly huffed, letting Tsuna have his moment. She was glad that he was stepping up to admit his guilt, especially when he cowered earlier. Something must have changed in his heart, right?

Either that, or Reborn stepped in.

Man, she _had_ to thank him somehow. Maybe a gift basket?

"In fact, I'm a pathetic person who would have regrets when dying," Tsuna continued, brittlely. "Thinking if I'm going to die, then I should've done it with a Dying Will. Thinking it's a waste to die from something like this...," Tsuna looked reminiscent. Hyacinth considered this, wondering if he was talking about his personal experience with the Dying Will bullet.

Did it feel like that for him?

Hyacinth wondered, once again, how it'd feel to be shot with the all-mighty bullet.

"Sorry," Tsuna apologized, again. He flushed horribly, and glanced away. He looked like he wanted to run far away at this point, and Hyacinth sighed, smiling slightly. She didn't really know what Yamamoto felt about this, but she was proud that Tsuna was able to get that off his chest. She turned towards Yamamoto, who was staring at Tsuna, contemplatively.

"You're right," Yamamoto admitted with a slight laugh. It fell a few millimeters short, but he looked more relaxed, and Hyacinth let out a low sigh, relaxing a bit more against the chain fence. "Ah, nothing good comes from my idiocy, haha," he glanced at the fence between him and the rest of the roof. "I'll guess I'll stop for now," he sighed, and Hyacinth nodded.

"Need help, or? How did you even get over there with a broken arm, anyways?" Hyacinth blinked. The danger had passed for now, but she had a lot to think about. She still felt worried for Yamamoto, who seemed a bit _too_ nonchalant about this incident. Still, she'll tackle it when they're well, and away from the edge of the roof.

"Did it with my Dying Will," Yamamoto told her, jokingly. "I think I can jump over again."

"Wait," Tsuna stepped forward, looking momentarily panicked. "I don't think that's a good idea-"

Hyacinth had long since deduced that Tsuna had some sort of sixth sense when it came to falling. The rusty fence buckled underneath the weight of Yamamoto trying to jump back over, and Yamamoto fell backwards, surprise lining his face. Hyacinth, who had been leaning all too idly on said fence, fell with him with a surprised yelp, tumbling over the edge of the roof.

"Hya-chan! Yamamoto!" Tsuna cried out, amongst the screams of shock behind them. Hyacinth swallowed, the feeling of falling more terrifying than anything she felt in her life. Perhaps if she wasn't falling to her death, and instead sky-diving with a safety parachute, she'd find some type of enjoyment in the feeling; as it was, a scream was stuck in her throat.

Yamamoto stared up at her, breathing rapid and shallow. Hyacinth was tempted to grab onto him, onto _something_ , to help them. As it was, the ground was approaching too fast, and Hyacinth glanced around, wanting some type of miracle to happen. _I don't want to die, I don't want to die,_ Hyacinth thought wildly.

And she certainly didn't want to see Yamamoto splatter to bits before she met her untimely fate.

A miracle occurred when they passed by a window, and Hyacinth managed to catch a glimpse of Reborn. The now-familiar sound of a gunshot cracked the air, and Hyacinth barely had time to blink before she felt something _impact_ with her forehead, the slight burning sting passing too quickly to register the intensity of it. _Oh_ -

So this is what it feels like to be shot with a Dying Will bullet.

All she could think about was her regret of not being a good enough friend to Yamamoto. Even after her promise before the school year started, she felt like she failed on some type of level. All she could think about is how they both were going to die. She didn't want Yamamoto to die, especially when she still has a lot to make up for. Hyacinth didn't want Takeshi to die.

 _I want to save you_.

"Reborn! Save Takeshi with my Dying Will!"

"Hyacinth!" Takeshi yelped, was Hyacinth angled herself to fall faster and catch up to him. Managing to grab onto him, Hyacinth tried to drag her feet alongside the outside walls of the school. _Shit_ , she couldn't stop.

"Dammit," she cursed, liberally. At this rate, the only way to save him would to just use herself as some type of cushion for the other boy. Even then, falling at this height would still be harmful if there wasn't some type of way to ride out the momentum. Still, broken bones was survivable-

Another shot was heard, and Hyacinth felt something itch at her scalp. _Too itchy!_ It was making it hard to think, dammit. Still, even then, her body fell reflexively so that the top of her head would hit the ground first. She clung tightly onto Takeshi, briefly surprised at the fact that she fucking _bounced_ like some type of bouncy ball. Still, despite the lingering surprise, she felt happy that it happened. It helped relieve some momentum, and allowed her to land safely, still holding onto Takeshi bridal style.

Hyacinth set him down, feeling the inner, _buzzing_ , flame sputter out. She blinked, even as Takeshi stared up at her, still looking surprised at the fact that they were alive. Hell, she was starting to feel the same, too.

"Takeshi, are you alright?" Hyacinth asked, falling to her knees beside the other boy. She glanced up at the roof, seeing her classmates staring down at them. They were too far away to see their reaction, but she could hear their disbelieving murmurs.

"Yeah," Takeshi sounded a bit dazed. "Hyacinth, you were amazing," he admitted, lowly. He laughed, something about the sound unlike any other laugh Hyacinth had heard from him. While it was different, it felt more- real. Though that could be attributed to the fact that both of them had just shared a near death experience together than any real amusement.

Hyacinth grinned, laughing slightly. "I guess that was pretty amazing, wasn't it?" She was inwardly over the moon. She was totally going to get Reborn something nice now! Maybe she could go to that cake shop in the downtown district of Namimori, and get him that expensive coffee cake that they were advertising.

"Hyacinth! Yamamoto!" Tsuna's voice startled them, both of them seeing Tsuna running over to them. He was panting, out of breath, and he looked immensely relieved. "You two are alright! I was so worried," he said, earnestly.

"Nah, it's cool," Hyacinth chirped. She puffed herself up. "Reborn-san pulled through for us, right?" Tsuna actually looked like he agreed, smiling slightly at her. Grateful couldn't even begin to explain her feelings towards the small baby.

"Oh, er, Hya-chan," Takeshi interrupted, kind of awkward. Hyacinth hummed, glancing at him. He had averted his eyes, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish laugh. "Your clothes are gone, Hya-chan," he explained, making Hyacinth blink and glance down.

"Oh. So they are." Hyacinth stated, unsure of how to really react. On one hand, this was basically exposing her to the world, but on the other hand, if the price of getting to live a little longer was public indecency, then she'd gladly pay it.

Tsuna sputtered, face red, even as he covered his eyes. "That's all you can say to this!?"

"Here, Hya-chan," Takeshi laughed, starting to unbuckle his pants. "I got a spare uniform in my sports locker, you can borrow my clothes for now." Hyacinth accepted the pants, pulling them up and tightening the belt so they wouldn't fall. The pants were longer than her legs, and she had to roll them then, Takeshi had managed to unbutton his school shirt and handed it over; a feat to be proud of, considering the fact that he had to maneuver around with a broken arm.

"Thanks, I owe you big time," Hyacinth told him, buttoning up the shirt. She glanced at Tsuna, who looked untimely relieved, making her inwardly roll her eyes. Man, he reads too much manga, she swears. And not even the good kind!

Probably the fan-service-y kind.

"Don't worry about it, Hyacinth," Takeshi smiled at her. "I think it's the other way around, haha," he grinned. He sounded too genuine, almost too much that it made Hyacinth uncomfortable. Still, if she felt this much gratitude towards Reborn, who saved her life, then she understands how Takeshi might feel.

By all accounts, she did the impossible to save both of them. "I want a free meal at your place," Hyacinth shrugged, and Takeshi blinked, before laughing. "That, and I think I want to upgrade our friendship to _best_ friends. That means that I get to bug you a lot more than before, 'kay?" She smiled, hopefully, at him.

Takeshi considered her, before nodding slightly. "I think I'll like that," he said, with an easy-going smile, and Hyacinth inwardly fist-pumped. He glanced at Tsuna with the same smile, "both of you guys are pretty awesome, now that I think about it, haha. I wouldn't mind being better friends with you two."

As they started to head back inside the school building, to get their stuff, Hyacinth briefly wondered how'd Goku-baka would feel that _he_ missed out on all the action, when he returned.

He'd probably be super jelly.

-0-0-0-

Reborn sighed, heading back to the Sawada residence to rest. Even if the day didn't go out exactly as planned, Hyacinth still managed to gain another member to add to the Family. While he felt slightly disappointed that it wasn't his dame student who managed to convince him, he still felt a _smidge_ proud of the fact that Tsuna managed to step up and apologize to the other boy.

He'll make a mafia boss out of dame-Tsuna yet.

Besides, he consoled himself. Reborn was sure that there would be many more chances for Tsuna to properly prove himself to his potential Rain Guardian. _He'll make sure of it_.

* * *

Review, favorite, follow, or whatever you do on stories that you read.

I'm fried from writing.

That, and school starts up again this month. ;a;

-mms


	4. Chapter 3

**Lightning Never Strikes Twice**

 _Chapter 3_

 _This chapter isn't edited in any way, shape, or form. If you see a mistake, don't hesitate to point it out to me! I'll try my best to edit when I can! :v_

 **Warnings:** General. Rushed writing. Filler-ish.

 **A/N:** Long time, no see! I finally decided on where I wanted to go with this story, haha—it will be a chapter or two before it can happen, but it will explore the Wizarding World more in depth and stuff soon. :v It has everything to do with how I want to characterize Hyacinth, because as it is—they're very OOC for a fem!Harry Potter, though I'm chalking it up to the fact that they didn't grow up with the Dursleys, nor have they really experienced any real hardship in their life, much less the shit the canon Harry Potter had to go through.

And Sirius raised them.

Hopefully as I explore more of the story, the characterization will grow and settle into something more familiar to canon Harry Potter's character. It'll be—interesting, to explore the point A to point B. :v No doubt some parts will be angsty, which will be fun~

Also, I apologize if the chapter seems disconnected or disjointed! I tried my best to tie each segment together, haha—a lot of this chapter was written in bits and pieces over the span of a year and some months, with some parts shifted around…

Other than that, enjoy!

(Also, I appreciate all the reviews! Though I don't respond much anymore due to time constraints, I do obsessively read them over and over again to get inspiration to write more for a story! :D )

* * *

"Who the hell are you?"

Hyacinth nibbled on her toast, glancing between Takeshi and Gokudera. Gokudera looked mere seconds away from dropping his bag and snarling in Takeshi's face, the whites of his knuckles showing from his tight grip on his own bag. Takeshi simply smiled, waving at him cheerfully.

"My name is Yamamoto Takeshi. Nice to meet you," Takeshi laughed.

An annoyed tick appeared, and Gokudera narrowed his eyes. Dismissing the baseball player, he turned towards Hyacinth with bared teeth. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Bringing your little boyfriend around here?"

Hyacinth finished off her toast and reached forward to wipe the crumbs off her fingers onto Gokudera's jacket. He sputtered and snarled wordlessly. "Jeez, calm down, Gokubaka~ He's a friend! And he's going to be sticking around! So, get used to him."

"I'm not little, haha," Takeshi inputted, still cheerful. "I'm actually taller than you."

Gokudera swung his heavy and hard glare onto him. "Shut up, baseball freak," he snapped. Hyacinth laughed, and Gokudera muttered some more. "You two better not cause trouble for the Tenth! I'll kill you two if you do!"

"You can _try_ ," Hyacinth sang-song. "And why did you call Takeshi-kun a baseball freak? How do you know he likes baseball? I thought you didn't know him!" Gokudera flushed, flustered and frustrated. Takeshi just smiled a bit wider.

"Shove _off_ ," Gokudera said with a heavy exhale. "Why, I oughta—"

A loud crash came from the Sawada household, prompting the three teens to turn and stare at the entrance. Hyacinth grinned expectantly, even as Gokudera looked momentarily worried. "I say 3 seconds!" Hyacinth nodded eagerly, causing Gokudera to glare at her.

"Don't fucking bet, what if he's gotten seriously hurt!" The thought was worrying Gokudera too much, and he looked tempted to run into the house.

"Eh? What's going on?" Takeshi blinked, glancing between Hyacinth and the house. From what Hyacinth told him, Tsuna lived right next to her.

"Tsu-kun's awesome exit!" Hyacinth grinned. Takeshi hummed, and glanced at the house expectantly too. True to her words, Tsuna more or less staggered out of the house, hair singed and looking a bit worse for wear. "Good morning, Tsu-kun!"

Tsuna's head snapped upwards, blinking wide at them. "Oh, uh—good morning," he stammered, as he tried to smooth down his clothes. With one last nervous glance at the house behind him, he joined the trio waiting for him as they started to walk to school.

"Tenth! Are you alright?" Gokudera asked worriedly, looking only a breath away from shaking Tsuna down for answers. Both of them were walking in front of them on the street while Hyacinth and Takeshi lingered behind; Takeshi didn't really mind, whistling a little tune to himself to keep himself busy.

At least, appear a bit busy. People tended to be a bit freaked out if Takeshi was silent or idle for too long, far too used to Takeshi being a bit more outgoing than he really felt. There was also the fact that Gokudera probably wouldn't like Takeshi blatantly observing him.

"I-I'm fine," Tsuna hid a miniature wince. "Just woke up a second too late. B-but that's beside the point!"

"Reborn-san is really strict," Hyacinth whistled, still cheerful. Takeshi hummed, bringing Hyacinth's attention towards him. With an inquisitive tilt of his head, Hyacinth seemingly understood and grinned rather crookedly at him. "Reborn-san is Tsuna's tor-tutor!"

"Tor-tutor?" Takeshi knew about the baby that followed them around, of course. He knew that, from what Hyacinth had managed to tell them in their hanging out, the baby was the reason why Tsuna and Hyacinth suddenly seemed so much _more_ recently.

" _Hyacinth_ ," Tsuna snapped, eyes darting to Takeshi's face and back to Hyacinth's quickly. "Just—just don't," he muttered, turning back around and quickly walking away. Gokudera spared the two of them a rather smug look, though there was a troubled twist to his expression as he quickly followed.

Hyacinth's expression faltered a bit, mouth pressing into a thin line. "Man," she sighed, running a frustrated hand through her hair and fumbling when they got caught in her goggles. Not a bit awkward, she fixed her mistake and caught Takeshi's stare, shrugging helplessly. "He's still a bit weird around you, sorry."

"Still?" Takeshi offered a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

Right, that.

Ever since that fateful day, things had been quite—not really awkward, but tense. Not between Hyacinth and Takeshi, but rather between the two of them together against Tsuna. It was part of the reason why Takeshi chose to linger a bit more in the background, along with properly recovering from his injuries at home and debating with himself if he should talk to his father or not about what really happened that day.

Takeshi could never think of a proper way to tell him.

It made him feel slightly sick.

It didn't help that Tsuna was jittery and flustered as hell with him afterwards, barely meeting his eyes and barely speaking to him. Hyacinth had only offered that he felt 'guilty' but should get over it soon. Takeshi silently mused over the reasons why, though he could only come up with the explanation that Tsuna felt like his attempt was _his_ fault.

Which was absurd, considering Takeshi's own foolishness.

Feelings were weird, often winning out over logic. Takeshi's usual method with dealing with complicated matters such as this (dubbed, "smile until it goes away") didn't seem to be working as well. Maybe it was because Tsuna was a bit more observant than he let on.

It probably was.

It was Hyacinth who first drew Takeshi's attention to the two, though the more he observed, the more he realized that Tsuna was an enigma on his own as well. Something about him was particularly off, it made Takeshi both curious and wary at once. Though he doubted it was anything malicious, and he didn't think it was like his uncle's brand of observant, the dangerously cold and rather callous way his eyes darkened when something caught his interest.

No, it wasn't anything like that.

Tsuna wasn't like Takeshi, much less his _uncle_.

Takeshi didn't know what to do, or say, in this situation. It was obvious that the obvious wasn't working, that being that Takeshi's own actions were not influenced by any other than himself. An almost irritating itch scratched underneath his skin, an almost bitter twist of feeling insisting that it was an incredibly selfish notion of trying to take blame of something that was obviously _his_.

It was his mistake, his regret; his foolishness.

It irked him to some extent to think that Tsuna was trying to take that responsibility.

Especially after saying something like _that_ on that day-

"Hey, hey~" A hand waved in front of his face, making Takeshi focus sharply and blink a bit. Hyacinth was grinning at him, must have noticed Takeshi lingering silence behind her. When she was sure she had his full attention, her grin softened considerably into something a bit more serious. "It's a difficult situation, for sure. And I'm not really sure how to, er—"

"Handle it?" Takeshi offered as she trailed off, obviously looking for the right words.

"Yep!" Hyacinth snapped her fingers together, nodding eagerly. "I've never been good with handling delicate situations like this. And Tsuna can be really stubborn if he wants to." _But why_? Takeshi bit that question back, shifting his eyes upward momentarily to glance at the sky.

It was slightly cloudy; maybe it'll rain later. Takeshi forgot to check the weather earlier.

Not like it matters, though, seeing as of that he's still medically excused from baseball. "At least we have something in common," Takeshi enthused. "I have no idea what to do either, haha."

"It is a delicate situation," a squeaky voice interrupted. Takeshi tilted his head slightly, instantly finding and blinking at the baby that he had saw a few times before. The baby's dark eyes glinted, and he seemingly stared intently at Takeshi briefly before turning his attention towards Hyacinth. " _Ciaossu_ ," Reborn greeted.

"Reborn-san!" Hyacinth rocked back and forth on her feet. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, kid," Takeshi waved brightly, feeling a faint flicker of amusement at Reborn's slight twitch. It was the slightest of all slight twitches. "Ah—Reborn-san? Is this Tsuna's tor-tutor?"

"Yep, yep," was all Hyacinth said, staring eagerly at the baby as he prodded up to them. Takeshi hummed, glancing back at Reborn. "Were you listening the whole time, Reborn-san?"

"I don't need to lower myself to such standards," Reborn smirked. "I already know everything," he promised. Hyacinth 'ah'ed, while Takeshi laughed again. Know everything, huh? That sent an ominous shudder through Takeshi's core, and barely suppressed with an easy-going grin that had too much clenched teeth.

"That's cool," Takeshi managed, with a slight laugh. Reborn's eyes were too dark, too intense; it left him feeling oddly paranoid. "Do you think you can help with my situation, then?"

"Of course," Reborn smirked. Hyacinth whooped, excited and eager. Takeshi tried to match her with a grin of his own, though he felt dread pool and drag in his stomach. He shook it off, ignoring the unsettling feeling, and focused on what Reborn could do for him right now.

Reborn was Tsuna's tutor, and _should_ know what to do, and what was best for the situation. Especially concerning Tsuna, and if Takeshi could just _ease_ the wedge between the two of them—that would be enough. He wanted to be considered friends with the timid boy as well.

"Dame-Tsuna thinks too much," the baby concluded. "He needs something to distract him, as well as prove that you," dark eyes met Takeshi's, and he blinked slowly, "don't hate him."

"Why would I hate him?" Takeshi laughed, awkward and a bit frustrated. Takeshi never hated anyone, either out of principle or the fact that the closest thing he's ever came to _hate_ was his own feelings towards himself.

"Tsu-kun is an insecure man-child," Hyacinth nodded, excited expression smoothing out to something a bit more serious, contemplative. Her green eyes narrowed slightly, wringing her fingers together. "Something to distract him, huh?" A sly and eager grin appeared, and Takeshi tilted his head.

"Distract him with what?" Takeshi smiled, hesitantly.

"Yep, yep! Did you know that there is a fair this weekend, Takeshi-kun? Reborn-san?" Hyacinth was practically vibrating with excitement, her eyes darting between the two of them. Reborn was smirking, and Takeshi only shrugged. His father had mentioned it recently to him, probably to hint that he wanted Takeshi to _go_.

Takeshi only humored him then, because he still couldn't properly look into his father's eyes.

"Yeah..?" Takeshi said, slowly. "I don't think Tsuna is going to be all that distracted with just going to a fair, though." As mean as other students were to him, from what Takeshi observed, he highly doubted that Tsuna would find enjoyment where a lot of their peers were going to be gathered. Especially if the Disciplinary Committee was going to be lurking there…

"Probably not the event itself," Hyacinth admitted. "But I'm sure if he went with a certain _someone_ , that would be distracting enough for him. And plus, if you help orchestrate it, that will prove that you absolutely do not hate him!"

It took a few seconds of processing, but Takeshi hummed in realization. Ah, of course: Sasagawa Kyoko, the female idol in their class. As it was, Takeshi's female counterpart in terms of popularity in their class, so it would be hard to not notice her.

And it was harder to not notice Tsuna's overwhelming crush on her after a few days of hanging around him.

"Oh, I see," Takeshi laughed. "That might work."

"What do ya' think, Reborn-san?" Hyacinth grinned, both of the teens turning to where Reborn was. Er, was supposed to be, at least. Takeshi blinked, and glanced around, a bit unnerved at this. His uncle would be horribly amused—at least, act like it.

And then probably take it upon himself to try and teach him things, much to his father's disproval and imminent intervention.

"I'm taking that as approval!" Hyacinth mused, eyes still darting around restlessly before shrugging. She grinned at him. "Then it's settled, right? We'll just have to get Kyoko and Tsu-kun alone together at the fair this weekend, while making sure he knows that _you_ are willingly helping!"

Takeshi cast one last absent glance around, searching for the tor-tutor before internally sighing. Both Hyacinth and him continued on their way towards school, not too hurried because it was a lost cause to try and catch up with the other two. In fact, he was pretty sure they'd be cutting it extremely close to being _late_.

And being late meant Disciplinary Committee.

"Do we need a plan?" Takeshi asked, only a bit hesitant at getting in trouble by the DC. Not only would his position on the baseball team be threatened -not at all helped by his academic record-, his dad might find out and that would only add onto the heavy and squirming feeling lingering deep in his stomach.

But the thought of _finally_ being a part of the excitement that the other three seemed to be getting into was too good of an opportunity to just let it slip by, much less be tainted by things such as _consequences_.

Besides, Hyacinth seemed to live without any concern for them. "Nah," she waved off his question. "We know what to do, we just need to do it. Ah, but I guess—we shouldn't let Kyoko-chan know. Her friend Hana can be plenty scary if she thinks people are taking advantage of her best friend," Hyacinth wrinkled her nose.

Well, using the terms ' _taking advantage of_ ' in this instance—Takeshi couldn't help but laugh. "You're making it seem like we're doing something bad," he huffed, making Hyacinth roll her eyes.

"It can be viewed that way— _or_ , it can be viewed as guiding the situation! And we're gonna guide this situation successfully." Hyacinth chirped, eyes alight. "It'll be great, don't worry. It will either succeed or fail—both options aren't bad, haha." Failing seemed like a bad option, in Takeshi's opinion.

Not too sure what to say to that, Takeshi just laughed yet again.

It was only pure luck that they managed to make it to school on time. Hibari narrowed his eyes at them as they passed though, Hyacinth pointedly glancing away and whistling an innocent tune. Takeshi only smiled and waved cheerfully at the perfect as they passed, making the older boy bare his teeth threateningly.

Takeshi wondered when they would implement their plan, as they changed their shoes and put on their school one's. It was only when they caught up to Gokudera and Tsuna in their classroom that Takeshi realized with slight bemusement that it was apparently as soon as possible, because Hyacinth wasted no time.

Dropping into an empty desk in front of Tsuna's, Hyacinth rested her chin on her palm and smiled at Tsuna. Tsuna was instantly on guard, expression set slightly. "Hey, Tsu-kun~"

"No." Tsuna instantly replied.

"Yes. You wanna go to the fair this weekend?" Hyacinth seemingly dismissed his disproval with practiced ease. Tsuna sighed, after casting a discreet glance in Takeshi's direction before blinking in confusion at Hyacinth's question.

"Not particularly," Tsuna made a face.

"You do! Great!" Hyacinth chirped, clapping her hands together. Takeshi barely withheld a snort, though Gokudera glared at him anyways. "And you wanna invite Kyoko-chan, right?"

At this point, Tsuna was sputtering. "Hyacinth, stop acting—wait, what? No, no I don't! I don't even want to go!" Gokudera was huffing, sensing Tsuna's distress and was seemingly ready to throw down with Hyacinth due to it.

Takeshi threw an arm around him, partially distracting and wholly in plan to restrain him just in case. "I'm sure it'll be fun, yeah?"

"Don't touch me!" Gokudera shrugged him off, snarling in his face. Takeshi barely refrained from sighing, keeping his smile pasted on with iron will.

Hyacinth seemingly ignored their exchange, just as well as she was ignoring Tsuna's growing panic.

Hyacinth nodded, smiling winningly at Tsuna. "I understand completely," she exclaimed, before turning and waving down Kyoko. "Hey, Kyoko-chan! Come over here, please?" Kyoko seemed momentarily surprised, and Hyacinth sent her a wide grin. Tsuna choked on his spit, and he flailed, caught in between jumping out of his seat running and trying to drag Hyacinth down with him.

In the end, he only dragged himself down, falling into the floor with a solid _whump_. "Ow," he whined.

"Hya-chan," Kyoko appeared with a bright little smile, an accompanying Hana lurking behind her. "Good morning! Is something wrong?"

"Does there have to be something wrong for me to talk to ya'?" Hyacinth tilted her head, blinking. Hana rolled her eyes, focusing on her after eying Tsuna's ungraceful heap on the floor with disgust.

"You're always up to no good," Hana scolded. "You better not be planning something."

"Hana," Kyoko reprimanded, flushing slightly. "Please, ignore her! It's just that, well, you never seem one to initiate conversation with me," she explained, pushing her fingers together sheepishly. She grinned at her, though. "But I'm glad you seem to want to talk to me! If something's wrong, I'd be happy to help."

"You're too nice," Hana muttered, folding her arms and glancing away.

"Help, huh?" Hyacinth mused, a glint in her eye. "Well, I have been—"

"Stupid idiot!" Gokudera snapped at her, after attempting to help Tsuna up off the floor. "What are you getting at, dammit," he hissed at her, and Hyacinth stuck her tongue out at him. Tsuna whimpered out of embarrassment, falling back into his seat and hiding his face into his arms.

"Hey, Kyoko-chan, Hana-chan," Takeshi grinned, waving at them. Hana only made a face, while Kyoko giggled and waved back. "Don't worry, ne? We're all friends here," he nodded, much to Gokudera and Hana's annoyance.

"The fuck we are!" Gokudera huffed.

Tsuna groaned into his arms again, before seemingly taking a breath and straightening. His face had an unhealthy flush, and his eyes darted about nervously before he cleared his throat, "G- good morning, Kyoko-chan," he offered her a shaky smile.

Kyoko was oblivious to his nervousness. "Good morning, Tsuna-kun!"

"What do you monkeys want?" Hana groused. "We don't have all day!"

"Ah, right," Hyacinth snapped her fingers. "I was wondering if Kyoko-chan would want to hang out with us this weekend at the fair!" Tsuna's head whipped around to stare incredulously at Hyacinth, who promptly ignored him to send a silly grin at Kyoko. Kyoko blinked, surprised.

"Oh, really?" For a second, she appeared reluctant before brightening. "I love fairs! Is it really okay for me to join you guys?"

"Of course not—" Hana started.

"Of course it is!" Hyacinth finished, louder than Hana's indignant words. She glared at the green-eyed girl, and Hyacinth sent her a slight smirk. "We'd love to hang out with you, Kyoko-chan~"

"If it's really okay," Kyoko agreed, looking excited. "Thank you so much for inviting me!"

Hana just gave them a haughty look, cutting the conversation short by practically dragging the cheerful girl away from them. Hyacinth wiggled her fingers in goodbye, turning towards a bright-red Tsuna and grinning. "How's _that_ for a wingman, eh?"

"Bullshit," Gokudera retorted sharply.

"I didn't ask you to do that! In fact, I'm pretty sure I begged you not to!" Tsuna quietly screeched at Hyacinth, who scratched at her cheek, uncaring. "Oh god, why did you do that?" Tsuna lamented, holding his face into his hands.

"It seems like a good idea, right?" Takeshi interjected, cocking his head to the side. He hoped it made him look airy and thoughtful. "I mean, you wanna be her friend, right?"

Tsuna gave him a quick glance, perplexed and strained. "I—"

"He wants to be more than that~" Hyacinth teased, wiggling her eyebrows. "He wants to hold her hand, kiss he—"

"Hyacinth," Tsuna groaned, interrupting her. Hyacinth tipped her head back and laughed. Giving her a mulish glare, Tsuna began to trace intermediate patterns on his desk sullenly. "And I don't even have money to go," he huffed.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, Tenth!" Ever quick to please, Gokudera assured Tsuna. He swung his glare at Hyacinth. "You! Stop causing trouble for the Tenth! It's annoying, dammit," he hissed.

Hyacinth waved him off, eyes thoughtful. "Money, huh," she mused. Tsuna eyed her, opening his mouth to try and dissuade her but their homeroom teacher ambled into the room just then, vying for silence and for everyone to go to their seats.

Takeshi didn't know what the look in her eyes stood for.

But he was sure he liked it, he liked it a lot.

-0-0-0-

"Isn't this illegal?" Takeshi asked simply, wrinkling his nose at the dense smell of cigarette smoke and expensive scents, along with the sharp smell of alcohol. He watched as Hyacinth greeted a few people, before she turned to answer him, eyes glinting in the light.

"Hah? Are you an idiot?" Gokudera interrupted before she could answer, and Takeshi turned towards him, smiling vacantly. Gokudera looked at ease in the gambling den, albeit a bit paranoid, and he shot a challenging look at the baseball player when he caught his glance. "Of fucking course it's illegal. Why? Can't handle it?"

Gokudera was an unexpected variable, though Takeshi subconsciously knew he'd be somehow included in on this. Otherwise, he'd be too much of an obstacle to take care of. And Reborn wanted this to be a _family_ exercise, though emphasis on the word making Takeshi twitch slightly.

So, Gokudera was soon cornered after their plan began and caught up—as expected, he went along with it, especially once Reborn had expressed his desire for it to succeed. He even appeared a bit approving when Hyacinth revealed her plan for some quick cash.

Gambling.

"Just curious," Takeshi laughed, raising his hands pacifically. He glanced at the people he was staring at before and felt a slightly bemused twitch of his lips. "Aren't those people apart of Hibari-san's Disciplinary Committee, ne?"

"What?" Gokudera glanced wildly at their direction, bewildered. While Takeshi highly doubted that he knew who Hibari-san was, the fact that there would be Disciplinary Committee members anywhere _near_ a gambling den would be suspicious. "What the fuck?"

"I'm not surprised," Hyacinth admitted, eyes still alight with excitement. Takeshi had to wonder if she was just easily excited by being in this type of environment, with the air was practically buzzing with action, verbal and otherwise. It was still somehow an elegant place, though; sleek tables and finely dressed people, it only served to alienate the three middle schoolers.

"What the fuck kind of town is this?" Gokudera made a face.

"The town that is practically ruled by Hibari-san," Hyacinth replied. "Hibari-san uses this place to recruit people into his Disciplinary Committee members without physically beating them into submission. If they're in his debt, then they can pay it off by being in the Disciplinary Committee. Which is why there are members here," she gestured at the people Takeshi was staring at before.

"Who is this Hibari?" Gokudera seemed particularly disturbed at this revelation. He urged them further into the backwall of the place, which was lined with lounge chairs, and further away from the main gambling events. He looked restless, and Takeshi huffed a bit, laughing. "What the fuck are you laughing at, baseball-freak?"

"Hibari-san is the head of the Disciplinary Committee," Takeshi answered instead. "While there was a Disciplinary Committee before Hibari-san entered Namimori Middle, he created his own and managed to, er—assimilate the previous Disciplinary Committee, and now he kind of—"

"Rules the town with an iron fist?" Hyacinth offered, managing to flag down a few drinks for them. They weren't alcoholic, which was sort of disappointing. Takeshi already felt like he was already on board with this, why not go all the way? "But yeah, Hibari-san is someone to look out for."

"You think I can't take him?" Gokudera snapped, taking the drink from her harshly. He took a sharp drink from it, wrinkling his nose. "Egh, tea."

"I'm not saying—well, actually, sure," Hyacinth pondered, sipping at her drink. It was tea, Takeshi observed, sipping as well. It tasted a bit over-steeped, and a whole lot plain. "I'm just saying, don't underestimate him. And also, this is beside the point! We came here to win!"

"How do you even know about a place like this, Hya-chan?" Takeshi asked, eying the main tables curiously. He didn't know much about gambling, or any type of rules. At most, maybe some blackjack or rock-paper-scissors. Hyacinth sent him a cheeky grin.

"How _wouldn't_ I know about this place?" Hyacinth hummed, downing the rest of her tea. "Are you guys lucky?"

"Tch," Gokudera stared intently out into the crowd, jaw tense. "I wouldn't say luck matters, it's all about how you play the odds. Just fucking wait, I'll get the money and we'll be out in a bit," he declared, setting his still full drink aside and storming into the crowd, disappearing amongst the crowd.

"So impatient," Hyacinth complained. "How about you, Takeshi-kun? Feeling lucky tonight?"

Takeshi felt slightly glad it was just them, though he felt a bit bland about the place they were at. Still, it was exciting, and Takeshi let a smile slide onto his face. "Not a bit," he admitted, laughing. "I never had the time to learn," baseball was his number one priority until recently.

In fact, this whole place was interesting—but the fact that Takeshi couldn't help but feel like his uncle would be interested in this place was only a tiny bit concerning. Surely, his late mother and father wouldn't approve. But Hyacinth was here, so Takeshi could so call 'forgive' himself for being here.

"You can follow me, then," Hyacinth offered, cracking her knuckles. "I can teach ya' a few tricks if you pay attention," she winked at him, before flouncing off into the crowd. Takeshi stared after her, a moment of something fluctuating in his chest before dismissing it and following after her, managing to catch up with a few long strides of his own longer legs.

Gokudera was at one of the tables they passed, and Takeshi watched the game they were playing. It seemed like a standard game of poker, and Gokudera already had a few chips gathered at his end. He appeared languid, even though Takeshi could see the taught line in his posture, the tenseness in his mean smirk.

Huh.

"The game I'm going to start with is Concentration," Hyacinth told him, weaving through the people. Takeshi blinked, momentarily surprised. Concentration? That memory match-up game? That could be turned into a gambling game? "It's a pretty easy game," Hyacinth admitted, sheepishly.

"I'm sure you can win," Takeshi replied automatically, smiling at her. Hyacinth snorted, as they finally arrived at their destination. Takeshi lingered behind her, not too far but not too close to be mistaken as an actual player.

Luckily, the previous game just ended.

The winner was an older teenager with dyed bright blond hair, dark eyes, and a mean smile. He brightened when he saw Hyacinth. "Well, well, well; if it isn't little Kuro-chan," he greeted, eyes jumping from her to Takeshi. Takeshi waved at him. "And a friend! What brings you two here?"

"We're here to win," Hyacinth replied airily. Confident.

"Are you now?" The older teenager asked lightly, smiling absently. "Well, you can try. I've been pretty lucky tonight." Hyacinth huffed, straightening and watching as the older teenager cleared the table, sliding all the cards into a neat deck in a smooth movement. He shuffled them, never taking his eyes off the two of them. "Who's your friend, Kuro-chan?"

"Yamamoto Takeshi," Takeshi answered with a bright, hopefully dumb, grin. "Nice to meet you!"

The older teenager seemed to analyze him for a brief moment, expression still open and amiable. At last, he chuckled and nodded back. "My name is Nakamura Sen; pleasure is all mine. Do you plan on playing as well, Yamamoto-kun?"

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, Takeshi shook his head. "Nah, I'll let Hyacinth take the lead on this one. I didn't even know this place existed before tonight, haha," to emphasize this, Takeshi gestured vaguely around them. Sen hummed, even as Hyacinth rocked back and forth on her feet impatiently.

"It is pretty out of the way," Sen mused. "That, and I'm pretty sure even Hibari-san's father doesn't knows about this place." A cat-like smile curled over his lips, and he seemed dangerously amused. "I wonder about that, sometimes. How the chief of police will react if he found out that his son is hosting an illegal gambling den," he sighed, shaking his head, almost in disappointment.

"Wanna find out?" Hyacinth blinked, hand impulsively reaching for her bag.

"What? No, no," Sen blanched, laughing her off with a wave of his hand. "I'd rather not be murdered in my sleep."

"I don't think Hibari-senpai will give you the privilege," Takeshi offered, still smiling that dumb little smile. "At least, if you were asleep, you probably wouldn't know what had happened. He'd probably like to keep you awake if he did kill you."

"Good point, good point," Hyacinth nodded along.

Sen's amiable expression seemed pasted on now, even as his eyes darted to the side quickly, almost nervously. He shook his head, and glanced back at them, smiling as if his quick-change in expression didn't happen. Hyacinth didn't seem to notice, but Takeshi didn't spend the majority of his life going through the motions of other people and recycling them endlessly to _not_ notice this.

Takeshi felt his own smile relax into something a bit more genuine.

"Let's stop talking about my employer," Sen suggested. "And let's move on with game!"

"Sure!" Hyacinth chirped in agreement, an eager light in her eyes.

After losing a few rounds, most of which caused a frown to furrow between Sen's brows—Hyacinth only smiled slightly and began to start winning. "You really should stop going easy on me, ya' know? It hurts my pride," Sen let out a low huff, torn between a strained smile and a grimace.

"I'm not going easy on you!" Hyacinth assured him, though her eyes were trained solely on the round she was currently winning. There was barely any hesitation in her movements, her fingers deftly flicking pairs of cards over and over until the end. "I was just memorizing the layout for a bit."

"The deck of cards changes every game," Sen declared almost defensively, already resigning himself this round. He rolled his shoulders, easing a crick in his neck; his aimable expression faltered slightly as he stared dully at Hyacinth's win.

Hyacinth's smile turned sly. "They do," she agreed easily. "But your placement of them certainly doesn't. Ah, isn't it weird, though, that even when you open a new pack of cards and shuffle them the way you always do—that the same exact pairs are always in the same place?"

Takeshi perked up at this bit of information, curious. Cheating? He didn't even notice—though, to be fair, he was only interested for a few minutes before he grew bored and began to observe the room around him, the people lurking in the dusty warehouse turned gambling den.

Sen's expression spasmed, causing him to glance away briefly. When he finally looked back at them, a resigned little smile edged his face. "One of these days," he began almost wistfully, shaking his head. "Oh well~ Hibari-san isn't gonna be happy with me either way, so losing to you yet again won't be too bad."

"Cheating is a lame way to ensure victory," Hyacinth almost chided, gathering up her winnings—wooden tokens of some sort, to go exchange at the shady counter near the entrance. Gokudera was already there, eying the man counting out his winnings suspiciously and casting impatient glares their way.

"It would be, if it wasn't apart of the game," Sen laughed. Cheating and gambling—Takeshi figured they'd go hand in hand, though he wondered if it was for the pleasure of doing it or the rewards that kept on enticing people to go back to it.

Humans were incredibly easy to subject to promise of reward, chasing pleasure. It was something his uncle always warned and advised him about, to avoid some situations concerning while manipulating others. It was something his father discouraged his uncle to talk about, stating that such a callous look at the world wasn't needed in their household.

"Then it's probably a good thing I'm good at avoiding it," Hyacinth chirped, stepping away from the table to bunch up the bottom of her shirt to hold the tokens in. "Good game, Sen! Though you're a cheater cheater pumpkin eater—it'll be fun to play with you again!"

Sen blanched at the childish nickname, even more so when Takeshi snickered. Sen's eyes flickered towards him. "Thank you, thank you—how about you, Yamamoto-kun? Will you play next time we meet?" His smile was nice enough, though a bit taunting.

"Maybe," Takeshi shrugged, smiling absently at the other teen. "I like games well enough; I hate losing, though, haha," he rubbed the back of his head, noting Hyacinth already bounding away from table and towards the counter.

It was almost condescending, Sen's expression. "Is that so? Then I'm not really sure you'd be up playing against me," he chuckled, making a flicker of bemusement lace through Takeshi.

"Big words coming from someone who just lost 4 times straight," Takeshi stated back with a chuckle of his own. Sen pulled back, huffing slightly. "And I meant it when I said I hate losing," he warned, turning away to head towards the exit. "So if we play, I'm not going to lose."

With that, he walked away, slipping through the crowd with ease.

"—Was that person you were playing against that fuckface's brother?" Gokudera grunted out, lighting a cigarette in his hands. Hyacinth was rocking back and forth of her feet, absently recounting her winnings.

"Sen? Yeah, yeah—Ren was the one you were playing against. They're twins!" Hyacinth affirmed, and apparently pleased by what she counted, she pocketed the envelope in her jacket's inner pocket. "Did Ren try and pull a fast one on ya'?"

Gokudera scowled, inhaling his cigarette sharply before releasing a breath in a explosive plume of smoke. "That bastard, trying to cheat—it took me a few rounds to notice, but it wasn't hard to win after I figured it out." His narrowed eyes flicked towards Takeshi, eying him before scowling. "I'm guessing you didn't win anything?"

"I didn't even play," Takeshi informed a bit too enthusiastically, rather enjoying Gokudera's expression straining.

"Fuckin' useless," Gokudera muttered. Hyacinth rolled her eyes, shoving her hands into her pockets and grinning. "Let's just leave already—this place is giving me a headache," Gokudera, uncaring for anything that didn't involve Tsuna, dropped his cigarette butt on the ground and grinding it sharply with his heel as he walked past it.

As they emerged from the gambling den, into the clear night air—they chattered about themselves, mostly Hyacinth and Gokudera arguing over what to do next and if they should go celebrate—Gokudera just wanted to go home, after giving Tsuna the money, while Hyacinth was egging him to choose a celebration via soda and a 24 hour arcade.

It felt—nice. To _almost_ be himself, enjoying a night with others who didn't really _know_ him but accepted him nonetheless; even Gokudera's certain dismissal of his presence didn't deter him, because his whole opinion on him was based on what he could do for Tsuna, for the _family_.

Takeshi wasn't dumb, no matter how he chose to act and his own confusion at his existence, or his recent actions. This was something bigger than Takeshi's sheltered life of baseball and middle school, edging on Takeshi's other life of questionable _maybe there maybe not_ emotions and dangerous uncle.

His father would definitely not approve. His uncle wouldn't particularly care beyond giving him a knowing look.

But Takeshi wanted to be apart of this, the enigma of friendship that was Hyacinth, Tsuna, and even Gokudera—something that made something burn in his core, because even though Hyacinth was the one that physically saved his life, it was Tsuna's words still echoed in his head at quieter moments:

 _It'd be a waste to die from something like this_

Takeshi was still unsure of himself, what _who_ he was—but he wanted to live without regret. He wanted to throw himself headfirst into the unknown future, a future made possible by both Hyacinth _and_ Tsuna. It made him _believe_ that something other than that aching emptiness awaited him.

He wanted a life where he could have friends.

And it'd be regretful if he didn't at least _try_.

-0-0-0-

Crazy awesome fair plans for crazily awesome peeps!

 **From: Hya-chan**

[4:13 PM]:

 _I can't come to the fair this weekend!_

 _My grandmother died horribly and I_

 _have to go plan their funeral! (′_ _︿_ _‵_ _｡_ _)_

 **From:** **Sasagawa Kyoko**

[4:15 PM]:

 _( ´_ _)_

 _Oh my_

 **From: Yamamoto Takeshi**

[4:17 PM]:

 _What a coincidence! A few of my pop's_

 _employees called in sick! I would go,_

 _but I need to help out my old man._

 _Sorry, sorry, haha!_

 **From: Hayato Gokudera**

[4:18 PM]:

 _I just don't want to go._

 **From:** **Sasagawa Kyoko**

[4:20 PM]:

 _It's okay! I just hope everything_

 _is okay with everyone!_

 _Does that mean that it will just be Tsuna-kun and I_

 _going to the fair, then?_

Tsuna stared dumbly at his phone, at the open group chat messages he had received only a few moment's prior. He held his phone in one hand, and in his lap was a mysterious envelop labeled with the words, ' _Good luck!'_ , on it. While Tsuna would normally be confused at this, he wasn't this time.

Because who the hell conveniently gets a whole lot of mysterious money along with three of his friends ditching their plans to go to the fair together that weekend? _Conveniently_ leaving only Kyoko and him to go together—alone, together, kind of like a date—

 _You guys are the worst!_ Tsuna groaned, coving his face with his hands. His ears felt warm, and he tried to stifle the embarrassment and dread that rolled over in his stomach.

-0-0-0-

He didn't know what his friends expected when they arranged this whole thing, but so far—he wasn't having a nice time!

Tsuna blanched when his pathetic throw somehow flailed sideways, almost hitting the vendor. "Sorry," Tsuna blurted, heat creeping up on his face. Today was the absolute worst! Kyoko giggled lightly beside him, and Tsuna shot her a wild glance. "I don't think—" _I can do this_!

Clumsy was practically synonymous with his existence, after all.

"You still have one 3 more chances, young man," the vendor enthused. Tsuna wilted; great, even more chances to make a fool of himself. "That's just enough to get one of the big prizes," the vendor continued, gesturing at the huge stuffed animal that Kyoko was totally staring at earlier.

Dirty, Tsuna thought. He recognized slight manipulation when he could, considering Hyacinth's position in his life. He sighed. "I- I'll try," he muttered, nervously palming the ball.

"I believe in you, Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko cheered, excitedly.

 _Hopefully that would be enough_.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna geared up for another throw. He was about to lurch the ball forward when some commotion happened beside him, making the two teens glance that way, Tsuna's arm falling uselessly beside him. The commotion was—Tsuna sputtered, partly in disbelief and partly in surprise.

That was Gokudera!

Gokudera was dressed rather suspiciously, with a mustache that wasn't his natural color taped onto his face. He was arguing rather passionately with another customer, which drew a lot of attention. Tsuna wanted to run away, drag Kyoko and run, while also being frozen on the spot because realization struck him. _They were totally following him! What the hell?_

"Yo, Tsuna," someone whispered behind him, causing Tsuna to startle and whirl. At the same time, someone took the ball from his hand; Yamamoto smiled brightly, Tsuna sputtering wildly. "I'll get you the prize, no worries, haha," Yamamoto promised cheerfully.

"That's not—" Tsuna wanted to demand answers, as well as for the earth to open up and swallow him whole. Flustered, Tsuna glanced at Kyoko to see if she was noticing anything, but everyone's attention was still firmly on Gokudera and—

 _Oh god, Hyacinth_.

Hyacinth was also dressed up, and was the other customer that Gokudera was arguing with. With silly glasses and a horribly done wig, she looked to be enjoying herself too much as she argued with Gokudera. Tsuna twitched, seeing Gokudera grow more and more angry the more Hyacinth talked over him.

The day that was already bad was going to go worse, Tsuna was sure of it. "Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna whirled back onto the baseball player, faltering when he saw Yamamoto already lining up his throw. He somehow managed to get the other balls, and Tsuna could only watch helplessly as he managed to hit the rest of the 3 targets successfully.

"Good luck!" Yamamoto shot him a quick thumbs up, darting away with a wide grin. Tsuna wanted to yell at him to at least grab Gokudera and Hyacinth on his way out, because the two of them alone together was always a recipe for disaster.

"Wow," Kyoko's sweet voice cooed. Tsuna bit back a whine, glancing at her with wide eyes. "This is an amazing street performance!" Street performance? Tsuna risked a look of where his -unfortunately- friends were, only to see that Gokudera seemingly gave up the act and was trying to shove dynamite in Hyacinth's snickering direction.

"H-hey, that's dangerous!" Tsuna snapped, wildly. He was never going to forgive them. Hyacinth seemingly heard him, head snapping in his direction and blinking. Understanding flashed through her expression and she nodded quickly.

"You'll never catch me alive!" Hyacinth darted forward and aimed a sharp kick at Gokudera's shin, making him hiss and move out of the way. Hyacinth seemingly counted for this because she extended her own leg, tripping the other boy and making him fall with his dynamite. "See ya', loser!"

And like a bullet, she shot off into the crowd.

Gokudera let out a snarl of rage, scrambling upwards to give chase. He didn't make it far when a low voice warned, "For disturbing the peace of Namimori, I _will_ bite you to death." Hibari Kyoya emerged from the crowd, looking both undisturbed and slightly prickly at the crowd.

The crowd wisely dispersed, used to Hibari's moods. Tsuna swallowed, tempted to leave as well—but Gokudera had frozen when he heard Hibari's voice, head snapping towards Hibari with wide eyes. Did Gokudera know him?

It would make sense, considering how loud and disrespectful Gokudera acted at times.

"Oh my," Kyoko exclaimed, as Hibari took a threatening step towards Gokudera. Gokudera looked torn between standing his ground or fleeing, his eyes nondescriptly flickering over towards Tsuna. Tsuna was tempted to cross his arms and shake his head, because the last thing he wanted was Hibari's attention on him.

But—Tsuna didn't want to disappoint another friend, to fail yet another person who put their trust in him. Still, he didn't know what to do because if he joined up with Gokudera, Hibari would still murder them. The only thing that would change was that instead of just one body, there'd be _two_.

And Kyoko would be abandoned on their little outing.

 _How is this helping at all!?_

Some wingmen.

Luckily, his saviors from this situation were the same people who instigated it. Hyacinth seemingly noticed that Gokudera wasn't following and backtracked, blanching when she saw Hibari. She looked like she regretted all her life's choices before dragging a hand down her face, tugging her goggles on in one smooth motion.

"Heya, Hibari-san! If you wanna fight, you gotta catch us first!" Hyacinth exclaimed, making Hibari freeze and glare at her, partially bemused. Gokudera sputtered. "And now we run!" Hyacinth didn't wait, gesturing sharply at Gokudera before making another getaway, this time with more desperation. Gokudera seemingly got the memo this time, and _ran_.

Both of them ran like the devil was behind them.

Which wasn't too far off, considering Hibari actively ran after them, tonfas clenched in both hands. Tsuna stood there, shell-shocked before sighing. Kyoko giggled beside him, making Tsuna glance at her amused expression.

"The fair is so lively. I'm glad we came," Kyoko admitted cheerfully. Tsuna rubbed the back of his head, flustered; he tried to ignore how hot his ears became. The commotion that surrounded the area dispersed, people excitedly chattering about it as they continued on their way.

It was kind of like nothing happened, as Tsuna and Kyoko turned back towards the vendor. The vendor was shaking his head, bemused. "I'll never get used to that, I swear. Ah—did you already throw?"

Tsuna eyed the fallen milk bottles critically. Obviously he didn't, he wanted to say. Instead, he managed a curt nod, grimacing. He hated lying, mostly because he sucked at it and he just didn't feel _good_ lying to anyone.

"Huh, that's impressive!" The vendor seemed put-off, but shook himself out of it. "Well, you can choose the prize you want." He still seemed perplexed, but pasted on a smile nonetheless. Tsuna nodded quickly, guilt quickly pooling in his gut.

Kyoko smiled, turning towards Tsuna with that sweet expression. "That was amazing, Tsuna-kun! What prize are you going to get?"

Trembling slightly, Tsuna averted his gaze and pointed upward at the prize Kyoko was staring at earlier. The vendor chuckled, complying easily and grabbing a step ladder to get it down. Kyoko perked up when she saw what Tsuna was pointing at.

"H-here," Tsuna stuttered once he got it, presenting the giant stuffed bear to a beaming Kyoko. His face felt like it was on fire, and his heart was beating harshly in his chest. "U-um, this is—thank you for hanging out with me, uh," Tsuna didn't know what to say, eyes flickering here and there.

Kyoko laughed. "Thank you so much, Tsuna-kun!" She grabbed the bear and hugged it eagerly, smothering her face into it. "And don't worry, today's been fun!"

 _Let's hope it stays that way_ , Tsuna thought dubiously. A discreet glance around assured him that his three wingmen would be indisposed for a bit—though whether or not that was a _good_ thing remained to be seen. Looking at Kyoko's elated expression and the teddy bear, along with the burning warm feeling settled in his chest—

It felt—nice, to be supported like this.

Especially by Yamamoto, Tsuna had feared that the other boy secretly hated him all this time. And while he still had this doubts, if Yamamoto willing helped him out in this stupid quest, then that means that he didn't hold any hard feelings, right? Tsuna shifted as Kyoko and him started to explore the fair yet again, feeling a bit more lighthearted than he had in a while. The squirming weight of regret lessened just a bit.

If Yamamoto was still willing to interact with him, then Tsuna was given a chance to make it up to him somehow. While he wasn't sure he was willing to _talk_ to him about what happened, he could at least try and begin to build something between them, something more honest because Yamamoto deserved at least that from him.

Now, if only he could get Reborn to stop insisting that Yamamoto was apart of the family. Tsuna felt horrible enough as it was, and there was no need to include him dragging someone as bright and cheerful as Yamamoto into the _mafia_.

Though, sometimes he wondered…

-0-0-0-

"Sirius."

Oh, _merlin_. Sirius stiffly ignored the voice, and continued to munch on his taiyaki. What was _he_ doing here? It was worrying, and the fact that Sirius was going to have to leave to wander around a bit to make sure no one could pinpoint him to Namimori was going to be a hassle. But—Sirius risked a glance towards Hyacinth, who was currently in between two boys, who was stalking Tsuna and his date that they all somehow managed to orchestrate.

It was fun to watch, honestly.

And Hyacinth was having fun. That was the most important part.

" _Sirius_ ," the voice repeated, firm and sad. Sirius grunted, giving the man a side-eyed look. Remus gave him a relieved smile in return, making his tired expression lighten up a bit. "It's good to see you again, Sirius."

"I wish I could say the same," Sirius replied, clipped. Remus sighed, making Sirius shift a bit in place. While it was inconvenient that Remus decided to show himself in such a public place, at a public event, Sirius rather prefer this than being cornered in his home.

It would have ruined his perception of his home—home was were safety was, home was where Hyacinth could be _safe_. And if Remus had cornered him, _them_ , there, then that would have all be ruined and Sirius was just going to have to deal with it because Hyacinth liked their house too much to just _leave_.

"Look, I know me being here is the last thing you want," Remus murmured, shifting closer so their conversation could further be muted by the restless crowd around them. Sirius rolled his eyes, nudging his wand out of his holster and casting a quick silencing charm around them, much to Remus's quiet disproval. "But this is important."

"Is it?" Sirius snarked, finishing his taiyaki with a flourish and shoving the ruined napkins into his pockets. Crossing his arms, he turned to give Remus a bland stare. "More important than a few years ago, when you thought you had any _right_ to tell me how to raise Hyacinth?"

Remus blanched. " _Yes_ ," he gritted out, rubbing at his face. "I know I made a mistake in judgement there, Sirius. And I'm sorry about that, I really am. But this isn't about that, it's about something else."

"Sorry doesn't fix anything." Sirius muttered. Remus looked exasperated, making Sirius frown. "But _fine_. Sorry still doesn't fix anything, and I don't have to like what you're going to say, got it? I'm under no obligation to do _anything_."

"Like you like anything I say regardless." The words made Sirius snort, earning a bland stare from Remus. "Can we move this to be a bit more private, then?" Remus's eyes trailed over to Hyacinth, who was currently taking secretive bites out of that one boy's takoyaki—what was his name? Yamamoto, or something?

Sirius looked between Remus's resigned and soft expression, and his daughter's gleeful one. "Sure," he bit out, canceling out the silencing charm. "I'll have to tell Hyacinth that I'm leaving, though. Merlin knows she'll kick my ass if I don't," Sirius moved forward, pausing when Remus lingered behind. Hesitating, Sirius gave Remus a quick glance. "Well?"

The elated expression Remus's face made Sirius want to snap, despite feeling like what he was doing was the _right_ thing to do. Sirius didn't have to like it, but Remus wasn't James and Lily. Remus was Remus, and despite their past altercations concerning Hyacinth—

Remus loved her, even with her not really meeting him.

"Are you serious?" Remus asked, shuffling forward.

Sirius rolled his eyes, and began to move again. "Of course I'm Sirius. Who else would I be?"

Remus let out a choked laugh, and Sirius felt his mouth twitch. It was almost relieving to actually see Remus again, too bad he still felt wholly dubious on everything. Dread and doubt pooled in his stomach, making him feel the edge of paranoia creep underneath his skin. Remus was here for a reason.

That reason wasn't going to be good.

"Hyacinth! My lovely daughter, the light of my life, my partner in crime~" Sirius cooed, stepping behind the little group of teenagers. The young teens jumped, the scowly one almost snarling in response. Hyacinth deftly ignored him after stomping on his foot, sending Sirius one of her energetic grins.

"Heya, partner," Hyacinth waved. The Yamamoto kid waved as well, cheerful with a silly smile. The kid that Hyacinth had stomped on grimaced, still rubbing his foot angrily; what was his name? Gokudera? "Whose that?"

Well, she didn't take long to notice him. Remus, who was lingering behind Sirius ominously, swallowed and moved forward. "Hello. My name is Remus—I'm an old friend of Sirius." Hyacinth's eyes widened, and her head snapped towards Sirius, blinking curiously at him.

"You have friends!?" Hyacinth sounded shocked, which honestly—was so offending.

" _Yes_ ," Sirius huffed, ignoring Remus's small yet gleeful grin. And he definitely ignored Gokudera's snort, and Yamamoto's slight snicker. "What are you trying to say, huh?" Hyacinth waved him off, already back to eying Remus almost critically.

"Hello. My name is Hyacinth!" Hyacinth greeted, adjusting her goggles slightly on her head. Sirius eyed them warily—honestly, the fact that she chose _them_ over regular glasses still confused him, but whatever. The fact that she didn't wear them all the time was also concerning.

" _The squinty eyed look makes me look like I'm glaring! And that's intimidating!" Hyacinth insisted to him at one point._

 _Sirius replied with only, "Fine. But if I see you run into another wall or fall down a set of stairs again, I'm getting you regular glasses and taping them to your face."_

Sirius had ignored her cries of child abuse, because honestly letting her have that much leeway with her eyesight and own safety could probably be considered abuse on its own. It was just that Sirius didn't want to make Hyacinth feel like she _didn't_ have a choice.

It was going to come bite him in the ass one day, Sirius was sure. But for now, Hyacinth was having fun and enjoying life. That's all he could ask for.

"These are my friends!" Hyacinth yanked Yamamoto and Gokudera next to her, making Gokudera sputter angrily. "The angry one is Gokudera Hayato, while the tall one is Yamamoto Takeshi. I have another best friend, but he's kinda indisposed at the moment."

"Like hell we're friends!" Gokudera snarled, ripping his arm from her grasp. "Speaking of the te—Tsuna," he hastily corrected, grimacing. "He's getting away, damn it. I don't have time to play meet-and-greet with you," with those eloquent words, Gokudera peeled away and disappeared into the crowd.

Sirius stared after him, before giving Hyacinth a dry stare. "Quaint."

"He's a good guy, I swear! A bit of an angry idiot, but a good guy," Hyacinth raised her hands sheepishly, grinning. Yamamoto chuckled. Remus looked momentarily perplexed.

"Getting away?" Remus inquired. "Are you three planning something?"

"We're planning Tsuna's murder," Hyacinth chirped. Yamamoto choked on another laugh beside her, Sirius rolling his eyes. Remus opened and closed his mouth, much to Hyacinth's obvious delight. "Nah, we're just making sure my bro has a good first date. Moral support and all that."

"Yeah, yeah; I'll be sure to tell Remus about it. I just came over to tell you that I'm heading out, so don't stay out too late. And don't do anything that I would do," Sirius ruffled Hyacinth's hair, dislodging her goggles and making her huff.

"Aw, you aren't staying? I wanted to talk to Remus more! This is the first time I'm meeting a friend of yours," Hyacinth wrinkled her nose, staring imploringly at Sirius. Sirius shot her an embittered smile, making Hyacinth pause and glance away, disappointed but not surprised.

It was for the best, anyways. Hyacinth just needed to focus on her now and future, and not be concerned with Sirius's or her pasts. Or ancestry. Or anything at all relating to magic, because her core was still ridiculously small and Sirius wasn't even sure she'd experienced her first bout of accidental magic yet.

If at all.

"Sorry, pup," Sirius apologized. Hyacinth shrugged, sending him a grin that felt sincere enough.

"No need to worry. You're not obligated to tell me anything, as nice as it would be. It's not like it will change anything between us." Hyacinth was always surprisingly perceptive, so much so after meeting Tsuna. "I'll see ya' at home, right?"

"Of course," Sirius promised.

"And I'll meet you again, Remus?" Hyacinth prodded, causing Remus to give her a tired smile of his own.

"Maybe," Remus said vaguely, making Hyacinth laugh.

"That's as good as I'm gonna get. See ya'!" With that, she turned on heel and disappeared after Gokudera, Yamamoto hot on her heels. Sirius stared at the spot his daughter was standing, before sighing and turning towards Remus with a daunted expression.

"Let's just get this over with," Sirius muttered, pushing his way out of the crowd. Remus silently followed.

Soon enough, they found themselves at Sirius's house. After making sure things were warded and charmed to _hell_ , Sirius finally served Remus some tea and sat across from him at the small table in the living room. Remus stared into his steaming tea, expression twisted slightly.

"Green tea is just as good as black tea, no worries," Sirius offered, taking a sip of his own drink. It burned in tongue, but in effort to keep face, Sirius made a show of swallowing it. "Yum."

"Don't act like that didn't hurt you," Remus rolled his eyes. "And I'm just thinking of how to say this. It isn't exactly an easy thing to say." His expression turned quiet and haggard, and he ran a hand through his hair, rubbing at it nervously.

Sirius stared at him, before sighing and glancing away. "Take your time, then," he managed quietly. _It's not like it's not making me anxious or anything_ , Sirius internally grumbled, taking out his sudoku puzzle book and picking up where he left off.

Just because Remus was making him wait in suspense doesn't mean that he has to just sit there in dread, alright?

A few moments of silence passed, with Remus seemingly searching for words. At last, he seemingly decided that there was no easy way to tell him and let out a tired sigh. Sirius glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, and waited as patiently as he could -which wasn't much-. Remus gave him a bland and strained smile.

"He-who-must-not-be-named is back."

Well, _fuck_.

* * *

Review, follow, favorite, or whatever you do on stories that you read.

Ah, I started to post HFMF on AO3! I've decided it'll be an altered version from the one on FFnet, and will have a different chapter 5! The current chapter 5 on FFnet will be considered an omake~

See ya'!

-mms


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